Hiroute Guebre Sellassie
Hiroute Guebre Sellassie (born 1952) is an Ethiopian diplomat and human rights lawyer who has held major United Nations roles. She was the United Nations Secretary‑General’s Special Envoy and Head of the Office for the Sahel from May 1, 2014 to February 12, 2016, and then served as the Deputy Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel from February 12, 2016 to August 6, 2017.
Earlier in her UN career, she was the Director of the Political Affairs Division and Head of the Goma Regional Office for MONUC/MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2007 to 2014.
She grew up in Ethiopia, attended a French-language secondary school in Addis Ababa, and earned a law degree at the Sorbonne in Paris. After returning to Ethiopia, she worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was jailed for five years during Mengistu Haile Mariam’s dictatorship, from ages 25 to 30.
From 1998 to 2004, she led the African Women Committee on Peace and Development. She later served as the Oxfam regional peacebuilding advisor for Horn, East, and Central Africa.
Notable work in the DRC: After the Kiwanja Massacre in 2008, she helped implement reforms to improve peacekeeping, including joint civilian-military protection teams, a mobile early warning system, community alert networks, and expanded civilian outreach and protection of women.
Personal: She is married and has three children.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:31 (CET).