UNFICYP Leadership

Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus

Mr. Khassim Diagne (Senegal)

Mr. Diagne served as Director of the Political, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Human Rights Unit in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (2017-2021). He was also Regional Representative, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the United States and the Caribbean (2017), UNHCR Representative in Cameroon (2015-2016) and Liberia (2014-2015), and Deputy Representative in Pakistan (2009-2011). Between 2011 and 2013, he was Head of the Governance and Partnership Service and Secretary of the Executive Committee at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva. Earlier in his career, he worked with UNHCR in Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Kenya and Somalia.

He holds a Master of Arts in Modern Languages from Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal, and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, United States. He is fluent in English, French and Wolof.

UNFICYP Force Commander

Major General Erdenebat Batsuuri

Major General Erdenebat Batsuuri was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 1974. He joined Mongolian Armed Forces in 1992. Currently, Major General Batsuuri was appointed as the Force commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

Major General Batsuuri had a distinguished career in the Mongolian Armed Forces, serving most recently as the Chief of Staff at the Mongolian Air Force Command (2020- 2024). He was previously Senior Officer in the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces (2017-2018), as well as Chief of the Peace Support Operation Division within the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces (2014-2017).

Major General Batsuuri has been deployed in eight United Nations peacekeeping, Coalition forces, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) missions including in OIF, KFOR, UNMIL, UNMIS, and UNMISS. Notably, he served as a Contingent Commander in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) in Sierra Leon from 2010 to 2011 and as an Infantry Battalion Commander in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) from 2013 to 2014. Lastly, he also held the positions of Chief of Staff in UNMISS Sector South (2018-2019) and Juba Sector Commander (2021- 2022).

Major General Batsuuri is a graduate of the Military University of the Mongolian Armed Forces, Air Command and Staff College and the Army War College in the United States. He is fluent in English and Mongolian.

Major General Batsuuri is married and is father of four children. Major General Batsuuri is athlete and fond of basketball.

His respected service in military and peacekeeping was achieved through receiving Mongolian medals of Peace, and UN mission medals.

UNFICYP Senior Adviser

Aderemi Adekoya (Nigeria)

Aderemi Adekoya joined the United Nations in 2002 and has served in four peacekeeping missions at different capacity, namely, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), United Nations Mission in Darfur, Sudan (UNAMID), United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) including support to African Union for the deployment of African Union peacekeeping forces in Somalia (AMISOM).

Mr. Adekoya holds a Ph.D. degree from University of Delhi. His professional experiences are in the areas of political affairs, diplomacy, policy formulation and implementation; institutional development; mediation; terrorism and counterterrorism; security arrangements; security sector reform including integration of forces and disarmament; programme development, management and coordination; resource planning and mobilization.

UNFICYP Chief Mission Support

Joel Cohen (Australia)

Joel Cohen is a senior official with the United Nations organization with more than 25 years of experience in management and support of multidisciplinary United Nations peace operations, both at UN Headquarters and in the field.

Since 2016, Joel has been serving as the Chief of Mission Support (Director) with the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), responsible for the administrative and logistics support of UN peace operations within Cyprus including management of all HR, financial and material resources within the mission.

Prior to taking up his current role in Cyprus, Mr. Cohen was deployed to Somalia where he served as Chief of Staff with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia and before that, Deputy Director with the United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission in Somalia. Other field assignments include Chief Administrative Services with the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste as well as management roles with UN peace operations in Afghanistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Earlier, Joel held the position of Chief of Finance and Budget Services for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia located in The Hague.

Past Heads of Mission /Special Representatives

* In August 1994, in connection with the change of command from Major-General Minehane to Brigadier-General Vartiainen, Mr. Clark became Chief of Mission. The function of Chief of Mission reflects a unified arrangement for the United Nations operation in Cyprus and includes UNFICYP. In the absence of the Special Representative, the Deputy Special Representative assumed this function.

Past Force Commanders