Major General (retired) Michael Beary

UNMHA Head of Mission and Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC)

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Major General (retired) Michael Beary of Ireland as Head of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) and Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee on 23 December 2021.

Major General Beary brings a wealth of experience in military operations, and United Nations peace operations, gained over 40 years of overseas military deployments, including in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Croatia, Iraq, Somalia and Uganda. From 2016 to 2018, Major General Beary served as Head of Mission and Force Commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Prior to the appointment in Lebanon, he served as Commander of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) in Somalia and General Officer commanding Second Brigade in the Irish Defence Forces with a wide variety of assignments, holding command and staff officer appointments, including at the unit, brigade and defence force headquarters levels. General Beary has lectured at universities in Ireland, and authored publications on international peacekeeping, while also having led United Nations Boards of Inquiry in Africa.

Major General Beary holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Business Studies and a Master of Science in national security strategy. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff School of the Irish Defence Forces, University College Galway, the Smurfit Business School University College Dublin and the National War College at the National Defence University in Washington, D.C.

Major General Beary succeeds Lieutenant General (retired) Abhijit Guha of India.

Ms Mari Yamashita

             UNMHA Deputy Head of Mission and Deputy Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC)

Mari Yamashita of Japan was appointed by the Secretary-General as Deputy Head of Mission for the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA), in May 2024. In her position she serves also as Deputy Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee (RCC).

Ms. Yamashita brings to the position extensive experience in preventive diplomacy, peacebuilding and political affairs developed over 30 years with the United Nations both at Headquarters and globally. Since December 2020, she has been the Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade.

Among various senior-level positions, she served as the Deputy Director of the Asia Pacific Division of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, as Deputy Head and Director of the Peacebuilding Support Office, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo and as External Relations Adviser in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.  Ms Yamashita also held leadership positions in the field, including assignments with the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-United Nations Joint Operation in Armenia.

Ms Yamashita holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Sophia University (Jochi Daigaku) in Japan and a Master of Arts degree in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in the United States.  She speaks English, Finnish, French, German and Japanese.

Ms Yamashita succeeds Ms Vivian van de Perre of Netherlands.