Leadership

	Parfait Onanga-Anyanga Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNOAU United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Parfait Onanga-Anyanga of Gabon as his Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU). He will succeed Hanna Serwaa Tetteh of Ghana, to whom the Secretary-General expresses his deep gratitude and appreciation for her dedicated service. Mr. Onanga-Anyanga brings more than 25 years of progressively responsible experience at the national, regional and international levels, with extensive experience at the United Nations, both in conflict-affected areas and at Headquarters. He brings to the position well-honed skills in building consensus among stakeholders and his knowledge of the Organization to strengthen the partnership between the United Nations and the African Union in the area of peace and security. Since 2019, he served as Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa. Before that, he was Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA). In his previous capacities, he was the Coordinator of United Nations Headquarters Response to the Boko Haram crisis, as well as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Burundi and Head of the United Nations Office in Burundi. From 2007 to 2012, Mr. Onanga-Anyanga was the Director of the Office of the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General. Previously, he served as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the fifty-ninth session of the General Assembly and as Special Adviser to the President of the sixtieth and sixty-first sessions of the General Assembly. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Onanga-Anyanga was a career diplomat in Gabon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, completing his service at the rank of Ambassador. He holds a post-graduate degree in political science from the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and a master’s degree in sociology from Omar Bongo University in Libreville, Gabon. He is fluent in English and French.
	Gerald Mitchell Deputy Head of Office and Director of Political Affairs Gerald Mitchell was appointed by the Secretary-General as UNOAU Deputy Head of Office and Director of Political Affairs in July, 2018. He has extensive inter-governmental experience in political affairs, elections and peacebuilding issues with the United Nations (UN), European Union (EU) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Prior to joining UNOAU, he served in senior governance and election-related capacities with UN Special Political Missions and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Somalia, Afghanistan, Georgia and Ethiopia. He also previously served for ten years as OSCE Head of Elections at the Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), where he was responsible for the implementation of the OSCE election mandate in support of democratic elections in the 57 participating State region comprising the world’s largest regional security organization. In this context, and also as a Brussels-based Expert to the European Commission, he was instrumental in developing the methodology for international election observation as implemented by both the OSCE and the EU. In addition to his extensive experience working at the inter-governmental level, earlier in his career, he worked with international non-governmental organizations based in Washington D.C. promoting democratic governance (National Democratic Institute and International Foundation for Electoral Systems) - later serving as Field Representative in Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kosovo and Romania. His career focus has been on issues of inclusive governance and democratic elections in transitional and post-conflict countries in Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe/CIS. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, Washington D.C., and a Master’s Degree in Comparative Government (Africa and Eastern Europe) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
	Felicia Gordon Chief of Staff Ms Felicia Gordon arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in March 2023 to assume her role as the Chief of Staff in the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU). Ms Gordon brings to the role over 25 years of professional experience, including 19 years in international organizations. She has held various political, peacebuilding, programme management, and legal advisory roles across the globe, including in East & Central Africa, Southeast & East Asia, Eastern, Central & Western Europe, and North America. Her extensive peace operations and management experience includes assignments in UNMISS, MINUSCA, UNMISET, and UNOTIL, as well as in peacekeeping planning at UN Headquarters in New York. Prior to joining UNOAU, she was the Chief of Staff for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Previously, Ms. Gordon was a member of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office team that planned and supported the implementation of the 2015 Peacebuilding Architecture Review, as well as the intergovernmental negotiations which resulted in twin ‘Sustaining Peace’ resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council, respectively in 2016. Her development experience includes assignments with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where she was involved in the programme management of the UN Development Account as well as of technical cooperation activities. She recently led the implementation of a special project to update the internal regulatory framework for the UN Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. Ms Gordon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social & behavioral sciences and a Juris Doctor degree in law, as well as a DELF certificate in French. She is licensed to practice law in the US (New York and the District of Columbia).
	Hester Adriana Paneras Head, Institutional and Operational Partnership Service Hester Adriana Paneras assumed her role as the Head of Institutional and Operational Partnership Service in the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU) on 14 April 2018. Ms Paneras brought 40 years of professional experience, including international experience, to this role, of which three years were spent in a peacekeeping mission. She served in the South African Police Service for 37 years, from which she retired with the rank of Brigadier General. She played a leading role during the transformation process in South Africa, specifically the Police, where she was responsible for the police reform processes and integration of ex-combatants into the police in the Free State Province between 1994 and 2000. As part of this process, she was responsible for implementing non-discrimination and managing diversity, topics that are still close to her heart. Ms Paneras became the first woman to be deployed as a Police Commissioner in a UN Peacekeeping operation when she was appointed as the Police Commissioner in the African Union United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) from 2013 to 2015. In this position, she took command of more than 6,000 police officers from 56 countries. She also held the position of Deputy Police Commissioner in UNAMID from 2010 to 2011. After leaving the South African Police Service, Ms. Paneras was a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), focusing on Peace Operations and Peace Building for two years. In this position, she was also responsible for collaboration with and support to the African Union on peace support operations. She is an experienced trainer and curriculum developer and, as part of her activities at ISS, led the development of two training packages for the African Union (Police Pre-deployment Training for Individual Police Officers and Gender Mainstreaming and Dealing with SGBV in Peace Operations for Civilians, Military and Police). Ms Paneras started serving as a member of the African Union Police Strategic Support Group in 2014 and continues to serve in that capacity. Ms. Paneras holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, with a focus on Policy Analysis, Organizational Development, and Police Management. Her thesis was on the Disparate Effect of Past Policies, Processes and Procedures on Gender Representation in the Police.