The special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), Valentine Rugwabiza, recently announced that the new Chief of Staff is Cameroonian Renner Onana.
Appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, he will officially take office on June 1, 2024. Renner Onana takes up this position after an interim role held since July 2022 by Souleymane Thioune. “Mr. Onana brings a wealth of experience of over 30 years in the areas of international peace and security, political affairs, diplomacy, human rights, DDR (disarmament, demobilization and reintegration), of SSR (security sector reform) and conflict resolution, acquired both within the United Nations and as a diplomat for the Republic of Cameroon,” underlined Chief Valentine Rugwabiza.
She added that the Cameroonian occupied, before this appointment, the position of representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights within the United Nations Integrated Office for the Consolidation of Peace in the Central African Republic. He was also head of the Minusca office in Kaga-Bandoro and interim coordinator of the Minusca Field Coordination Office, within which Cameroon has a contingent of more than 1,000 soldiers, gendarmes, and police officers.
Holder of a Ph.D in international relations obtained from the Institute of International Relations of Cameroon (Iric), a degree in history of international relations from the University of Yaoundé, and a diploma in comparative human rights from the Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France), Renner Onana has held positions within the United Nations missions in Burundi, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Rwanda, and in the Central African Republic.