Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) and Head of UNMISS
Mr. Nicholas Haysom
In January 2021, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Nicholas Haysom of South Africa as his Special Representative for South Sudan and Head of UNMISS.
From 2019 to 2020, Nicholas Haysom served as the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sudan. From 2018 to 2019, he was the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission to Somalia (UNSOM). He also served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from 2014 to 2016, and as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014. From 2007 to 2012, he served as Director for Political, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Affairs in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General, and from 2005 to 2007, as Head of the Office of Constitutional Support for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq.
From 2002 to 2005, Nicholas Haysom was the principal adviser to the Mediator in the Sudanese Peace Process. He was involved in the Burundi Peace Talks as Chair of the committee negotiating constitutional issues from 1999 to 2002 under the facilitation of late former President Nelson Mandela, and served in the Government of South Africa, including as Chief Legal and Constitutional Adviser in the Office of the President from 1994 to 1999.
Haysom earned a degree in law from the Universities of Natal and Cape Town in South Africa. He also received honorary doctorates from the University of Cape Town and New York Law School.
Deputy Special Representative - Political (a.i)
Mr. Graham Maitland
On 19 August 2025, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Graham Maitland as Ad Interim Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General (Political) at the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). Prior to this assignment, he was the Director of Eastern Africa Division of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO) in New York Headquarters.
He brings over 25 years of experience in diplomacy and policy in both the UN Secretariat and national government. In his previous position with DPPA-DPO, he oversees the Secretariat’s support to special political missions in Somalia, Sudan and the Horn of Africa and peacekeeping operations in South Sudan and Abyei.
Prior to his role in the UN, he served in several senior leadership positions in the South African Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation. From 2010 to 2014, he served as South Africa’s Ambassador to Sudan. Other positions in the Ministry include serving as its Chief Director for North and Central Africa and East Africa, respectively. In this position, he managed South Africa’s peacebuilding programmes in Comoros and South Sudan and was part of the South African Development Community’s mediation team, led by former President Joachim Chissano, for Madagascar.
In 2004, he was part of the research staff backstopping then Secretary-General Kofi Annan's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. In 2002, he was Chairman of the Fourth Committee during the 57th Session of the UN General Assembly. He also served as Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the UN in New York from 2000-2003 during which he chaired the Working Group on peacekeeping operations of the Non-Aligned Movement’s work in the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations.
Mr. Maitland has an MA in International Relations from Tufts University - Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, as well as degrees from the University of Pretoria. He holds a post-graduate diploma in International Relations from Sciences Po of Paris. He speaks Afrikaans, English and French.
Deputy Special Representative - Resident Coordinator & Humanitarian Coordinator
Anita Kiki Gbeho
On 8 December 2023, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Anita Kiki Gbeho of Ghana as his Deputy Special Representative in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and Resident Coordinator in South Sudan. Ms. Gbeho will also serve as the Humanitarian Coordinator.
Ms. Gbeho brings over 25 years of experience in strategic planning, coordination and management in political, development and humanitarian affairs at United Nations Headquarters and in diverse conflict and post-conflict settings, including Angola, Cambodia, Iraq, Namibia, Somalia and Sudan. She has served as the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General-Political in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia since 2021, where she assists the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in supporting Somalia to achieve its peace and state-building goals.
Prior to that, from 2018 to 2020, Ms. Gbeho served as Deputy Joint Special Representative of the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur where she led the development and implementation of the Mission’s transition strategy. Between 2015 and 2018, she was Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative with the United Nations Development Programme in Namibia. She has also served as Chief of Section in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York and as Head of Office for OCHA in Somalia and Southern Sudan.
Ms. Gbeho holds a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana.
Force Commander
Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian
Lieutenant General Mohan Subramanian from India, an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy, was commissioned into his country’s army in June 1986.
Lieutenant General Subramanian has a distinguished military career with the Indian Army spanning over 36 years. Most recently, he served as the General Officer Commanding, Military Region (Operational and Logistic Readiness Zone) in central India, contributing to the Army’s operational and logistic preparedness.
Previously, he served as the Additional Director General for Procurement and Equipment Management at the Integrated Headquarters of the Ministry of Defence (Army) (2019-2021), General Officer Commanding a Strike Infantry Division (2018-2019), Deputy General Officer Commanding of Infantry Division (2015-2016), Commander of a Mountain Brigade (2013-2014) among other appointments within the Indian Armed Forces.
Lieutenant General Subramanian served as India’s Defence Attaché to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (2008-2012) and as a Staff Officer with the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone in 2000.
On 5 July 2022, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Lieutenant General Subramanian as his new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
Police Commissioner
