Kenya continues to expand diplomatic relations across the globe as President William Samoei Ruto welcomed four new envoys to the country on Wednesday at State House, Nairobi.
The President received credentials from Ambassadors Madou Diallo of Mali, Mark Guiletti (Switzerland), Henk Jan Bakker (Netherlands) and Ennio Maes of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
Ambassador Diallo was previously the Director for International Organisations at Mali’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2024.
Prior to this, he was the secretary-general of the National Assembly between 2012 and 2016. He holds a PhD in public law from Paris Descartes University.
Ambassador Giulietti has wide diplomatic experience, having served as the Swiss representative at the United Nations in New York, NATO in Brussels and Mexico.
He was also the deputy head of mission in Nairobi from 2014 to 2016. Later, he was appointed ambassador to Costa Rica, El Savador and Nicaragua.
He holds a master’s degree in spatial and urban planning from ETH Zurich, as well as another postgraduate degree in international human rights law from the University of Leuven, Belgium.
Between 2002 and 2018, Ambassador Maes served in diplomatic missions in Senegal, Ethiopia, New York and Washington DC.
He was appointed ambassador in 2019 and became Director-General of Bilateral Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abidjan.
In 2021, he was appointed Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Cote d’Ivore to Ethiopia, Permanent Representative to the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the United Nations Environmental Programme and UN Habitat.
He is a graduate of Canadian Lester B Pearson International Centre for Peacekeeping Training.
Ambassador Bakker has been his country’s envoy to Afghanistan, Uganda and Ethiopia. He holds a degree in political science from the University of Leiden.
