NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Tadamichi Yamamoto of Japan as his Special Representative for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).  He will succeed Nicholas Haysom of South Africa who has served in this critical role since 2014.  The Secretary-General is grateful for Mr. Haysom’s important contribution and service to UNAMA since taking up his role as Special Representative.

Serving as Deputy Special Representative for UNAMA since 2014, Mr. Yamamoto is a diplomat with forty years of professional experience in political affairs, international cooperation and economic development, spanning several continents.

He has held several positions with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ranging from Ambassador to Hungary to Special Representative of the Government of Japan for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Ambassador in charge of International Counter-Terrorism and Reconstruction Assistance to Iraq.  He also served as the Permanent Delegate of Japan to UNESCO.

Mr. Yamamoto holds a B.Sc. degree in engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom).

Born in 1950, he is married and has two children.