NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Nicholas Haysom of South Africa as his Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.  He will succeed Haile Menkerios of South Africa, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedication and commitment.

Mr. Haysom, a lawyer with a long international career, has focused on democratic governance, constitutional and electoral reforms, reconciliation and peace processes, including most recently as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) since 2014 and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of UNAMA since 2012.

Previously, he was Director for Political, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Affairs in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General (2007 to 2012) and Head of the Office of Constitutional Support for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) (2005 to 2007).  

Mr. Haysom served in the Government of the Republic of South Africa including as Chief Legal and Constitutional Adviser in the Office of the President from 1994 to 1999.  He was involved in the Burundi Peace Talks as chair of the committee negotiating constitutional issues, from 1999 to 2002 under the facilitation of the late former President Nelson Mandela, and was the principal adviser to the Mediator in the Sudanese Peace Process from 2002 to 2005.

Mr. Haysom earned a degree in law from the Universities of Natal and Cape Town, South Africa.  In 2012, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Cape Town.

Born in 1952, he is married and has five children.