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James Christopher Swan (UN official)

James Christopher Swan (born in 1963 in Washington, D.C., USA) is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia.

Education

Mr. Swan holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, a Master of Arts from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from the US National War College.^[1]

Career

Prior to assuming his current role with the world body in Somalia, Mr. Swan had a nearly three-decade career with the Foreign Service of the United States of America. Most of this diplomatic work focused on helping African countries as they faced complex political and security transitions.

In his bilateral diplomatic career, Mr. Swan held numerous positions related to Somalia and the Horn of Africa. These include US Special Representative for Somalia (2011-2013), Ambassador to Djibouti (2008-2011), Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East and Central Africa (2006-2008), Africa Director in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2005-2006), and Political Officer in the Office of the Special Envoy for Somalia (1994-1996).

He also served as the US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2013-2016), in addition to prior staff assignments in the Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nicaragua, and Haiti.^[2]

United Nations

Appointed^[3] by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in June 2019, Mr. Swan is the senior official of the UN team in Somalia. He has broad oversight of all UN operations in Somalia, including two UN missions and 23 agencies, funds, and programmes that together have nearly 2,000 national and international staff, total budgeted activities of close to $2 billion and work in a range of areas across the political, development and humanitarian spheres.

Mr. Swan serves concurrently as the Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Somalia (UNSOM). This UN special political mission operates under a UN Security Council mandate to support Somali institutions, strengthen Somali coordination with international partners in the security sector, help Somalis advance in reconciliation and democratic governance, and promote the rule of law and human rights.^[4]