Bintou Keita (born 1958) is a Guinean

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

diplomat. She is an expert in conflict resolution, and has been the

Special Representative of the Secretary-General A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical huma ...

in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

since January 2021.

Early life and education

Keita was born in

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

in 1958. Her education included a degree in Social Economy from the University of Paris. She went to the

Paris Dauphine University Paris Dauphine University - PSL () is a Grande École and public institution of higher education and research based in Paris, France, Collegiate university, constituent college of PSL University. As of 2022, Dauphine has 9,400 students in 8 fields ...

to obtain her master's degree in business administration and management.

Career

She began working for the United Nations in 1989. 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 Anita Kiki Gbeho (born 1964) is a Ghanaian United Nations official who is the Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and Resident Coordinator in South Sudan since 8 December 2023. Early life and education Gbe ...

. In 2019, Keita became the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa. 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. left, 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 The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO (an acronym based on its French name ), is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A planned withdraw ...

and to be the

UN Secretary General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

's Special Representative in the

. She succeeded the Algerian UN official Leila Zerrougui. 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." 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. 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. Keita visited the area that month seeing the survivors and the damaged area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Bintou 1958 births Living people Guinean diplomats Guinean women diplomats Paris Dauphine University alumni Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations United Nations officials University of Paris alumni 21st-century diplomats