Interim Chairperson

Amb. Maj Gen (rtd) Charles Tai Gituai, CBS, is a retired Kenyan professional military officer with a wide and diverse experience of service in the Kenya Defense Forces both locally and internationally. During his service, he has worked in Command, Training, Intelligence, Diplomacy and Staff appointments. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies and Diplomacy, University of Nairobi and Masters Degree in Public Administration Public Policy, Annamalai University, India. He is a graduate of Defense Services Command and Staff College, a Constituent College of Dhaka National University, Bangladesh and Kenya National Defense College. He also holds a post graduate diploma in International Law and Diplomacy from the Institute of International Law and Diplomacy, Delhi, India.

Some of the highlights of his career include serving as Kenya’s Defense Advisor in India accredited to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Singapore. He has served as a Division Commander in KDF, Deputy Force Commander AMISOM Somalia, and also served as the Deputy Chief of Staff, United Nations Mission to Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). He was the Joint Chief of Staff, Eastern Africa Standby Force, (EASF) responsible for development of the regional strategic planning for Peace, Security, Training and Coordination within the framework of the Africa Peace and Security Architecture, (APSA) under auspices of the African Union (AU) 

 He was also a Commander of the Fourth Infantry Brigade, Commander RDC, Chief of Operations at the Ministry of Defense Headquarters, Commandant of Strategic Joint Warfare Centre (JWC) Commandant Military Cadets School; and he also served in the Department of Military Intelligence, all in Kenya.

Amb. Maj Gen (rtd) Gituai also holds a Diploma in Advance Intelligence from IDF, and a Diploma in National and International Security, Centre for Strategic Studies Galilee, Israel, a Certificate of the United Nations Ceasefire Mediation and Management, Norwegian Defense University Oslo; and a Certificate in Consequence Management and Legal aspects of Terrorism, from the US Counter Terrorism Institute, USA, among many other professional qualifications from USA, Asia, Europe and Kenya.

In April 2020, he was nominated by Kenya Government and endorsed by the IGAD Summit as Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission.

Chief of Staff

Amb. Berhanu Kebede is an  economist and a distinguished diplomat whose career spans over four decades. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Addis Ababa University (1978) and M.A. Degrees in Development Economics (1986) and, Management and Finance (1988) from the Free University of Brussels. 

Highlights of his career include serving as the Ethiopia/European Economic Community (EEC) Relations Desk Officer at the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978. In 1983, he moved to the Diplomatic Mission in Brussels serving as an Economist. Amb. Kebede participated in negotiations leading to the 1981 and 1985 extensions of the Lomé Convention–a trade and aid agreement between the European Economic Community and 71 African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, first signed in February 1975 in Lomé, Togo. He further participated in the Committees that pursued the implementation of the Convention.

In 1992, Amb. Kebede returned to Addis Ababa to lead the Western European Division at the Ministry as a Counselor, before taking up the role as the Acting Director General for International Organization and Economic Cooperation in 1993. Later that year, he was promoted to the position of Director General, representing Ethiopia in the Organization of African Unity Council and Summit, between 1992 and 2000 as well as the Economic Commission for Africa Ministerial Conferences, held in that period. 

He also chaired the Economic and Social Council meeting of the African Economic Community in June 1998, and served as Deputy Leader of the Ethiopian Delegation to the United Nations from 1993 to 2000.

On 7 December 2000, Amb. Kebede was appointed as the Ethiopian Ambassador to Russia. In February 2002, he was appointed as the Ambassador of Ethiopia to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. In March 2006, he was appointed as the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia to the United Kingdom, a position he held for 10 years. In 2015, H.E. Berhanu Kebede received the Award 'Diplomat of the Year from Africa' by the London-based Foreign Affairs Magazine 'The Diplomat'.

In 2016, H.E. Amb. Berhanu Kebede was appointed as the Chief of Staff at the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC) for the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan.

Amb. Kebede speaks Amharic, English and French.