Bintou Keita
Born1958 (age 65–66)
Guinea
NationalityGuinea
EmployerUnited Nations
Known forUN Secretary-General's Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bintou Keita (born 1958) is a United Nations diplomat from Guinea. She is an expert in conflict resolution. Since January 2021, she has been the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Early life and education

Keita was born in Guinea in 1958. Her education included a degree in Social Economy from the University of Paris. She went to the Paris Dauphine University to obtain her master's degree in business administration and management.[1]

Career

She began working for the United Nations in 1989.[1]

In 2018 she left her job as Deputy Joint Special Envoy for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). Her old role was taken by Anita Kiki Gbeho.[2]

In 2019, Keita became the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa.[1] She gave an interview where she spoke about the advantages of increasing the number of women in the military. Her father was in the military and he had encouraged her to join. Now she observing the military engaged in Africa and she noted that there were situations where women or a mixed team could perform tasks that would nearly defeat a force made up only of men. At present women only make up 5% of uniformed personnel.[3]

Keita (on the right) in Kalemie, 2021.

In January 2021, she was appointed to lead the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo MONUSCO and to be the UN Secretary General's Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1] She succeeded the Algerian UN official Leila Zerrougui.[4] In April she issued a statement to the press. While accepting that people had the right to criticise MONUSCO she felt that some of the points were unfair. She wrote that "relationship between the United Nations and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is of an intensity and complexity that I have rarely seen elsewhere."[5]

Bintou Keita seeing flood damage in 2023

In March 2023 she spoke to rally local support for the MONUSCO mission. 600,000 people had been effected by violence and MONUSCO was seen to be ineffective.[6]

On 2 to 4 May 2023 there was flooding in the Kalehe Territory that destroyed 5,000 homes and killed about 400 people. The World Food Programme was aware that there were over 100,000 internally displaced people and 50,000 people were expected to need assistance.[7] Keita visited the area that month seeing the survivors and the damaged area.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Ms. Bintou Keita of Guinea - Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO)". United Nations Secretary-General. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Anita Gbeho new Unamid deputy representative". Radio Dabanga. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  3. ^ "'They Should be Climbing the Ladder'". Africa Defense Forum. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Secretary-General Appoints Bintou Keita of Guinea Special Representative in Democratic Republic of Congo". United Nations Peacekeeping. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Déclaration à la presse de Mme Bintou Keita, Représentante spéciale du Secrétaire général en RDC et Cheffe de la MONUSCO - Democratic Republic of the Congo". ReliefWeb. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  6. ^ Lorgerie, Paul (2 March 2023). "Top U.N. official tours east Congo as peacekeeping mission struggles". Reuters. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  7. ^ "WFP's emergency response to the Kalehe floods, South Kivu - Flash Report (11 May 2023) - Democratic Republic of the Congo | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  8. ^ Photos, MONUSCO (17 May 2023), A07I7474, retrieved 18 May 2023
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