Mr. El Hadji Ibrahima Diene “Boly”, born on 03rd October 1967, a Senegalese national, is the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia and Head of the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) since 21st April 2025. He has tremendous experience in military, diplomacy, and peacekeeping operations.
Until his appointment as the SRCC, Mr. Diene served as the Chief of Staff at the United Nations Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) from 25th December 2023 to 26th May 2025.
Prior to joining UNOCA, Mr. Diene served as the Chief of Staff ad interim – United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) from 5th January 2023 to 22nd December 2023. While working for MINUSMA, he served in various capacities, including serving as:
- Head of Regional Office in Kidal – 2nd August 2022 to 4th January 2023. Previously, he served in the same capacity in 2017.
- Chief JOC – 1st July 2019 to 1st August 2022
- Principal Political Affairs Officer and Special Adviser to the Chief of Staff – 24th October 2018 to 01st July 2019
Before joining MINUSMA as Chief JOC on 01st August 2015, he served as Civil-Military Coordinator in OCHA, Mali, from July 2013 to August 2015.
Mr. Diene has extensive military experience, having served as a pilot and a Senior Military Officer with the Senegalese Air Force from 1989 to 2013. During his over 24-years military career, he served in various positions at the Tactical, Operational and Strategic Levels both within and outside of Senegal, thus developed solid experience and a strong background knowledge on conflicts and crisis resolution strategies in West, Central and East Africa. He took part in several peacekeeping missions, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in Syria.
Mr. Diene holds several Masters’ Degrees and diplomas in Military, Political Science, Aeronautics and Program Management.