Mr. Ozonnia Ojielo, Resident Coordinator for
Rwanda.

Mr. Ozonnia Ojielo, a native of Nigeria, since July
2022, is the U.N. Resident Coordinator and
representative of the UN Secretary-General to
Rwanda. From January 2019 to June 2022, he was
the U.N. Resident Coordinator and representative of
the UN Secretary-General to Kyrgyzstan. From
December 2017 to December 2018, Mr. Ozonnia
served as the U.N Resident Coordinator, UNDP
Resident Representative, and UNFPA Representative
to the Kyrgyz Republic. Previously he was Cluster
Director for Governance and Peacebuilding in Africa
at UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa Addis
Ababa and Director for Conflict Prevention and
Recovery at Bureau for Crisis Prevention and
Recovery, UNDP, New York. He held management
positions with UNDP in Kenya and Ghana, respectively. Prior to his UN career, he was a practising attorney
and solicitor, university lector, and newspaper journalist in Nigeria, and had provided advisory and
technical cooperation services to truth, justice, and reconciliation commissions and human rights
commissions in Malawi, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, etc.

For several years, he was the President of the Regional Conflict Prevention, Research, and Advocacy
Organization, Centre for Peace in Africa (CPA), Lagos, Nigeria. He is the founder and first President of
Africa's largest mediation and conciliation organisation: The Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators, with more than 20,000 members. Mr. Ojielo holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ibadan, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; a Master’s degree in Strategic and Project Management from the Paris Graduate School of Management, Paris, France; and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Asuansi Technical Institute (ASUTECH), Awka, Nigeria.

He has authored/co-authored four books and scores of peer-reviewed articles published in reputable
journals from around the world.