On 31 May, the United Nations officially closed the Office of the Special Envoy for Burundi, signifying a milestone for the Organization’s peace and security efforts.
Significantly, the Secretariat fully withdrew from the mission in one month.
After the Security Council decided to end the mandate of the Office of the Special Envoy for Burundi, a small liquidation team of existing support staff – aided by experts in the Department of Operational Support (DOS) – remained to complete closure activities.
This included asset disposal, archiving records, environmental clean-up, and support for impacted staff.
The closure supports the broader transition of the Organization’s role in Burundi to the United Nations Country Team under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator.
Assets and inventories were transferred in line with the Organization’s rules and regulations. The liquidation team ensured that, where possible, the skills and experience of mission staff were retained by agencies, funds, and programmes in the country.
They helped mission staff who were affected by this downsizing find new UN vacancies by circulating their professional profiles through the Secretariat’s Horizon platform. It was set up by DOS specifically for liquidation purposes.
Despite the rapid 30-day timeline for drawdown and withdrawal, the process for any field mission closure is a complex one.
It relies on lengthy preparations for a smooth transition from a mission setting, to continuing development and humanitarian activities, to transferring responsibilities to government institutions.
To ensure cooperation between the Office of the Special Envoy for Burundi and UN Headquarters, the Division for Special Activities (DSA) started coordinating closure activities with DOS pillars well in advance.
This included the Global Service Centre in Brindisi and the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe.
Supply chain colleagues in these locations played a key role in the logistics for the closure. They coordinated the procurement of freight, equipment movements, and inventory management.
To learn more about drawdown activities, check out the DOS Guidance for Senior Leadership on Field Entity Closure (Knowledge Gateway).
The Division for Special Activities (DSA) is a DOS pillar that provides support solutions across the Secretariat for entities in “special situations,” (e.g., start-ups, drawdowns, surges, etc).
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