UN appoints Kenyan diplomat to new Addis office

Amb. Zachary Muburi-Muita (right) with Prime Minister Raila Odinga after the opening of the South-South Cooperation Conference at the United Nation Complex at Gigiri in Nairobi, December 1, 2009.
By DAVE OPIYO
Posted Thursday, August 19 2010 at 12:19

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed a Kenyan diplomat as the first Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union, established earlier this year to strengthen links between the two organisations.

Mr Zachary Muburi-Muita, who previously served as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York since 2006, will now head the new UN office, to be based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Mr Mburi-Muita has worked in diplomatic, political, civil-military and managerial roles for the country since 1982.

“The diplomat will now be tasked with building stronger UN ties with the AU and sub-regional organizations as well,” a statement from the UN read.

Mr Muburi-Muita’s diplomatic resume includes involvement in various initiatives related to the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD).

During his tenure as the country’s Permanent Representative to the UN, he was elected as the Vice-President of the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

In January this year, he was also elected President of the UN High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, which is charged with helping to boost economic development among the world’s poorest nations.

The new UN Office to the AU was set up by the General Assembly on 1 July.

Mr Muburi-Muita has also served in numerous roles in his extensive diplomatic service including as High Commissioner to the United Republic of Tanzania, and previously Principal Counsellor at the Kenya Embassy in Israel.

He has also been the head of the Middle East Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of the Americas Division, Senior Assistant Secretary and acting head of the Asia and Australasia Division.

He has also served in various capacities in Kenya’s missions abroad, including in the Netherlands and the Sudan.

Between 1998 and 2001, he was seconded to the faculty of the National Defense College.

Mr Muburi-Muita was educated at the University of Nairobi, the University of Khartoum and Oxford University.

He was born in 1957 and is married with three children.