Haile Menkerios of Eritrea assumed the post of Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs on 1 July 2007. He was appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Assistant-Secretary-General Menkerios was previously the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, beginning in October 2005. During 2003-2005 he was the Director of the Africa I Division of DPA, which covers East and Southern Africa. In 2002, Mr. Menkerios was Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, Moustapha Niasse, and assisted the Special Envoy on all aspects of the mediation process prior to the signing of the Global and All Inclusive Agreement on 17 December 2002 in Sun City, South Africa.  From 1991 to 2000, Mr. Menkerios represented the Eritrean Government in various capacities including as Ambassador to Ethiopia and the Organisation of African Unity, Special Envoy to Somalia and also the Great Lakes region, and as Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  Mr. Menkerios has a Master’s degree from Harvard University and a Bachelor’s degree from Brandeis University.