Valentine Rugwabiza

Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of Mission

Ms. Valentine Rugwabiza of Rwanda was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central African Republic (CAR) and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) on 23 February 2022 by UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.

With more than 30 years of experience in Africa development and security issues in both the public and corporate sectors, Ms. Rugwabiza has been a Cabinet member, a senior diplomat accredited to several countries and organizations, and a senior leader in national, regional and multilateral entities. 

Since 2016, Ms. Rugwabiza has been her country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and non-resident Ambassador to Colombia and Jamaica.  Between 2014 and 2016, she served as Minister for East African Community Affairs and Member of the East African Legislative Assembly.  From 2013 to 2014, she was Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda Development Board and a Member of Cabinet. 

From 2005 until 2013, Ms. Rugwabiza served as the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.  Before that, she was Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva and United Nations specialized agencies, as well as Ambassador to Switzerland, from 2002 to 2005. 

Ms. Rugwabiza speaks English, French, Kiswahili and Kinyarwanda.

Lizbeth Cullity 

Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of MINUSCA  

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 08 January the appointment of Lizbeth Cullity of the United States as Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

With more than 25 years of leadership experience with the United Nations in Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, Ms. Cullity was the Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in Haiti beginning in 2008 until 2010.  During that period, she also served as Chief of the Human Rights Section in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).  Between 2011 and 2013, she was MINUSTAH’s Chief of Political Affairs.

From 2013 to 2017, Ms. Cullity was United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Samoa. Most recently she served as Chief of Staff in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Ms. Cullity held numerous leadership roles in Sierra Leone and Haiti, including Regional Coordinator of the United Nations/Organization of American States International Civilian Mission to Haiti from 1993 to 2000, in addition to heading the human rights, political and electoral pillar of the Organization of American States Special Political Mission to Haiti from 2002 until 2004.

A graduate of the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, in the United States, she holds a master’s degree in international administration and is fluent in English, French and Haitian Creole.

Lieutenant General Daniel Sidiki Traoré 

Force Commander 

Lieutenant General Daniel Sidiki Traoré (Burkina Faso)  was appointed on 21January 2020 as Force Commander of the Multidimensional Integrated UN Stabilization Mission in CAR (MINUSCA).
 
As the current Military Adviser to the Chief of General Defence Staff of Burkina Faso, Lieutenant General Traoré has had a distinguished career since joining the Army of Burkina Faso in 1977.  He also has extensive Peacekeeping experience, having recently served as Deputy Force Commander in MINUSCA in 2018, and as the Sector West Commander in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) from 2014 to 2016.  He also previously served as Sector Commander in the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in Western Darfur from 2012-2014.
 
Lieutenant General Traoré holds master’s degrees in Sociology and Human Resources from the University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, as well as a master’s degree in History and Archaeology from the University of Sorbonne, Paris.  He is fluent in English and French.
 
 

Christophe Bizimungu 

Head of the Police Component (UNPOL) 

The new head of the police component has a rich career of almost 30 years in the fields of reconstruction, building and guiding Rwandan state structures, and designing strategic policies and plans.

Police Commissioner Christophe Bizimungu started his professional career in January 1992 as a soldier. In 1994, he became a gendarme, following a common basic training at the National Gendarmerie School, then at the National Police Academy in Musanze, Rwanda.

In his country, Commissioner of Police Christophe Bizimungu has, in turn, held the positions of Chief of the Judicial Police, Prosecutor of the Military Courts, Regional Police Commander and Commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Department, Commander of the National Police School of Rwanda, and member of the Board of Directors of the Rwandan National Police. He participated in the design of the training policy and guidelines and contributed to the development and implementation of the security sector reform, which led to the creation of the Rwanda National Police in 2000. He has coordinated a dozen operations with Interpol.

With a Ph.D. in Criminal Law obtained in 2018, Commissioner Bizimungu has worked extensively in the justice sector of his country, including the reform and creation of the new military justice system. Among the projects under his responsibility are the general restoration of the law enforcement institution; the creation of a training and aptitude framework for police officers to manage the post-conflict situation. Later, he contributed to the national reform of the judicial sector, first as a lawyer and then as coordinator of the capacity-building policy in the National Gendarmerie and the Army.

Police Commissioner Christophe Bizimungu has obtained several certificates, notably from the International Peace Support Training Center in Nairobi, Kenya, and the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy. He has received other certifications in Rwanda including the United Naval Justice School detachment of international training, the National police academy in Musanze, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, and the United States Defense institute of international legal studies. From October 2007 to September

2008, he completed a Master's degree in International Criminal Law at the University of Sussex, England. From 1994 to 1995, he was a Liaison Officer between the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda (UNAMIR) and the Patriotic Army of Rwanda during the conflict and post-conflict periods.

The Police Commissioner has received several decorations, including that of exemplary police performance, a distinction awarded to only a dozen police officers since the creation of the Rwandan police.

Born in 1965, Police Commissioner Christophe Bizimungu is married and has four children.