James C. Swan | |
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Special Representative for Somalia | |
In office May 30, 2019 –October 27, 2022 | |
Secretary-General | António Guterres |
Preceded by | Nicholas Haysom |
Succeeded by | Anita Kiki Gbeho |
United States Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
In office November 1,2013 –December 30,2016 | |
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | James F. Entwistle |
Succeeded by | Michael A. Hammer |
United States Ambassador to Djibouti | |
In office November 10,2008 –June 30,2011 | |
President | George W. Bush Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Stuart Symington |
Succeeded by | Geeta Pasi |
Personal details | |
Born | James Christopher Swan December 10,1963 Washington,D.C.,U.S. |
Education | Georgetown University National War College Johns Hopkins University |
James Christopher Swan (born December 10,1963) is an American diplomat. He was the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia from May 2019 to October 2022. [1]
Swan was born on 10 December 1963 in Washington,D.C.[ citation needed ]
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University,a Master of Arts from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University,and a Master of Arts in National Security Studies from the US National War College,where he was a 2005 distinguished graduate. [2]
Prior to assuming his role with the United Nations in Somalia,Swan had a nearly three-decade career with the US Foreign Service. Most of this diplomatic work focused on African countries.[ citation needed ]
In his bilateral diplomatic career,Swan held 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).[ citation needed ]
He also served as the US Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2013-2016), [3] [2] in addition to prior staff assignments in the Republic of Congo,Cameroon,Nicaragua,and Haiti. [4]
UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Swan to lead the UN team in Somalia on May 30,2019. [5] [6] He was responsible for UN operations in Somalia,including two UN missions and 23 agencies,funds,and programmes that together had approximately 2,000 national and international staff and an operating budget around $2 billion. [7]
Swan served concurrently as the Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in 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. [8]
On 24 July 2019,a female suicide bomber entered and blew herself up inside Mogadishu Mayor Abdirahmean Omar Osman's office,killing six government officials and injuring nine of Osman's staff. Swan was the target of the attack,but Swan had met the mayor earlier and departed prior to the blast. Osman was critically wounded in the attack and succumbed to his injuries a week later,on 1 August 2019,after having been transported to and hospitalised in Doha,Qatar. The attack was claimed by Al-Shabaab. [9]
The United Nations Operation in Somalia II was the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia and took place from March 1993 until March 1995,following the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991. UNOSOM II carried on from the transitory United States-controlled (UN-sanctioned) Unified Task Force (UNITAF),which had been preceded by UNOSOM I. Notably,UNOSOM II embarked on a nation-building mission,diverging from its predecessors. As delineated in UNSCR 814,the operation's objectives were to aid in relief provision and economic rehabilitation,foster political reconciliation,and re-establish political and civil administrations across Somalia.
The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led,United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative,UNITAF was charged with carrying out United Nations Security Council Resolution 794 to create a protected environment for conducting humanitarian operations in the southern half of the country.
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The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments and advising and assisting the UN Secretary General and his envoys in the peaceful prevention and resolution of conflict around the world. The department manages field-based political missions in Africa,Central Asia,and the Middle East,and has been increasing its professional capacities in conflict mediation and preventive diplomacy. DPPA also oversees UN electoral assistance to Member States of the organization. Established in 1992,the department's responsibilities also include providing secretariat support to the UN Security Council and two standing committees created by the General Assembly concerning the Rights of the Palestinian People and Decolonization. DPPA is based at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
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The Embassy of the United States of America to Somalia is a diplomatic mission of the United States in Mogadishu,Somalia from 1960 to 1991. In 1957,the US opened a consulate-general in Mogadishu—the capital of the Trust Territory of Somalia,a UN trusteeship under Italian administration. The consulate was upgraded to embassy status in July 1960,when the US recognized Somalia's independence and appointed an ambassador. The embassy served to counter Soviet influence during the Cold War and also served as a base for the United States Agency for International Development,which had a large presence in the country. In 1989,the embassy moved from a dilapidated building in central Mogadishu to a new compound on the outskirts of the city.
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