Mbugua Martin Kimani (born 1971) is a Kenyan government official and diplomat. He has served as Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations since December 2020. He previously served as the Director of the National Counter Terrorism Centre and as a Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism in Kenya.
Kimani’s speech about the sovereignty of Ukraine in the context of the Russian invasion on 21 February 2022 went viral on social media.
Early life
Kimani was born in 1971 in Mombasa.
Education
Kimani has a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire (1996). He has a master’s degree (2003) and a PhD (2013) in War Studies from King’s College London, University of London.
His master’s thesis was about oil marketing in Kenya.
His PhD thesis was about the role of Christian symbolism, the Catholic Church, and racialism in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Career
Previous roles
Kimani has worked in Nairobi, Addis Ababa, and New York City and has been employed by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the United Nations Environment Programme.
He was an Associate Fellow at the Conflict, Security & Development Group at King’s College London.
From April 2011 to December 2012, Kimani was the Director of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism in Ethiopia.
Current roles
Kimani is the Kenyan Presidential Special Envoy for Countering Violent Extremism, and was appointed as the Director of Kenya’s National Counter Terrorism Centre in 2015.
He became the secretary for the Building Bridges Initiative in December 2018.
Kimani is Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and has been in that post since December 2020. He was president of the United Nations Security Council for October 2021.
22 February 2022 speech
Kimani delivered a speech to the UN Security Council on 22 February 2022, in which he criticised Russia’s recognition of separatist-held areas of Ukraine, and drew comparisons between the borders of Europe and those of Africa, saying:
“This situation echoes our history. Kenya and almost every African country was birthed by the ending of empire. Our borders were not of our own drawing…Today, across the border of every single African country, live our countrymen with whom we share deep bonds.”
His speech went viral on social media.
Writing
Kimani’s writing has been published in Chimurenga, Farafina, Granta, Juxtapoz, Kwani, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and The East African, and The Guardian.
His book The Work of War was published by Granta Books online.
Awards and fellowships
Kimani was awarded the honour of Elder of the Order of the Burning Spear by the President of Kenya in 2016.
Kimani is a Fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and of the Africa Leadership Initiative.
In 2013, Kimani was a Distinguished African Visiting Fellow at the South African Institute of International Affairs.
Family life
Kimani and his wife June Arunga Kimani have two children.