United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Toily Kurbanov of the Russian Federation as his new Deputy Special Representative for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Kurbanov will also serve as the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan.
He succeeds Anita Kiki Gbeho of Ghana, whom Guterres thanked for her contribution to the UN’s work in the country.
Kurbanov has nearly 30 years of experience in international diplomacy, humanitarian affairs, sustainable development and public policy.
He has served as Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) since 2021, having previously been its Deputy Executive Coordinator from 2016 to 2020.
Before joining UNV, he was UN Development Programme (UNDP) Country Director in Myanmar from 2012 to 2016, where he oversaw the re-establishment of the agency’s presence and conflict-sensitive programmes.
From 2007 to 2012, he served as UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Fiji and the Pacific island countries, overseeing programmes in 10 Pacific states and working on climate adaptation and UN coordination.
He also worked at UNDP headquarters in New York from 2004 to 2006 on resource management, planning and budgeting.
Earlier in his career, Kurbanov served as an ambassador and held ministerial and other senior positions in the government and state institutions of Turkmenistan.
He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University in the United States and a master’s degree in economics from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.
He speaks Russian and English.
The appointment was announced in New York on Thursday.
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