H.E Timo Olkkonen on Wednesday presented his credentials to President Salva Kiir Mayardit at J1 as the new Ambassador of the European Union to the Republic of South Sudan.

“Based on shared values and interests, the European Union Delegation will continue to support South Sudan’s peace process and vision to become a peaceful, stable, prosperous and democratic nation," Ambassador Olkkonen said after his accreditation ceremony in Juba.

Ambassador Olkkonen takes over from H.E Christian Bader, who has since moved on to become the new French Ambassador to South Sudan.

Olkkonen has a career centred on African issues. Prior to South Sudan, he worked in Zimbabwe as the EU Ambassador; from 2014 to 2018, he served as Ambassador of Finland to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, based in Lusaka; and from 2001 to 2005, he held the position of Second Secretary at the Finnish Embassy in Kenya.

He has worked at the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, last as the Director for development policy, and also on EU-issues in different capacities in Brussels, Belgium. 

He holds a Master of Arts in General History from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and boasts an impressive repertoire of languages. Beyond Finnish, he speaks English, Swedish, German, French, Hungarian and basic Kiswahili.