United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 01 May 2023 the appointment of Clementine Nkweta-Salami of Cameroon as the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan. Ms. Nkweta-Salami succeeds Khardiata Lo N’Diaye of Senegal, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication.

Ms. Nkweta-Salami brings to the position, 30 years of experience in humanitarian affairs and protection, mainly in field settings. For the past three years, she has served as Director of the Regional Bureau for the East, Horn and Great Lakes Regions of Africa of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where she is responsible for providing strategic direction, support and oversight of 11 UNHCR country offices. Prior to this, she was UNHCR Representative to Ethiopia, Regional Representative to Southern Africa, Representative to Burundi and Head of Inspection in the Inspector General’s Office at UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva. She has also served in field positions with UNHCR in the United Republic of Tanzania, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Seema has led the East African mission for British International Investment (BII) from a strategic and operational perspective since November 2019. She is responsible for BII’s existing portfolio, origination efforts across infrastructure, financial services and corporates as well as all stakeholder relationships. Seema is an NED on the Board of Africa Logistics Properties and The Africa Power Platform.  Prior to BII, Seema was the Chief Representative Officer for East & West Africa at Mauritius Commercial Bank responsible for governance and client coverage. 

During her earlier career, Seema spent 18 years with Standard Chartered Bank in a variety of roles across Singapore, London and Nairobi through various disciplines. She was the founding member of an $18bn leveraged credit fund, Head of Directorate within the Group CEO’s Office and Executive Director for Strategic Promoter Initiatives within East Africa.  

Seema is a CFA Charterholder and has a BA in Law & Business Studies from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. She is married and has two children.