Zainab Bangura

Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura
Zainab Bangura speaking at the G8 Foreign Ministers meeting in London, 2013.
Director-General, United Nations Office at Nairobi
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2020
Preceded by	Maimunah Mohd Sharif
United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict
In office 22 June 2012 – 12 April 2017
Preceded by	Margot Wallström
Succeeded by	Pramila Patten
Sierra Leone Minister of Health and Sanitation
In office 3 December 2010 – 3 September 2012
Preceded by	Soccoh Kabia
Succeeded by	Tamba Borbor-Sawyer
Sierra Leone Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 14 October 2007 – 3 December 2010
Preceded by	Momodu Koroma
Succeeded by	Joseph Bandabla Dauda
Personal details
Born	Zainab Hawa Sesay[citation needed] (1959-12-18) 18 December 1959 (age 64) Yonibana, Tonkolili District, British Sierra Leone
Political party	All People's Congress (APC)
Spouse	Alhaji Shekie Bangura
Residence(s)	Freetown, Sierra Leone New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Fourah Bay College
Profession	Social activist

Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura (/ˈzaɪnəb ˈhɑːwə bəŋˈɡuːrə/; born 18 December 1959) is a Sierra Leonean politician and social activist who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) since 2018,^[1] appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.^[2] She served as the second United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations from 2012 to 2017, in succession to the first holder of the post, Margot Wallström. In 2017 she was succeeded by Pramila Patten.^[3][4][5]

In 2007, Bangura became Sierra Leone's foreign minister in the government of President Ernest Bai Koroma of the All People's Congress (APC) Party.^[6] She was the second woman to serve in that post, following Shirley Gbujama who held that position from 1996 to 1997. She served as Minister of Health and Sanitation from 2010 to 2012.