Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal and American David Gressly will serve under the UN special representative for Mali, Bert Koenders of the Netherlands.
Bathily is currently the minister of the presidency of Senegal, a post he has held since 2012.
Gressly, a 20-year veteran of UN agencies, notably UNICEF, has been serving as Koenders' deputy on an interim basis.
He will also serve as the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs in Mali. Last year, he coordinated UN relief efforts in the Sahel.
Bathily, 66, served in various ministerial posts from 1993 to 2001, when he was elected to Senegal's national assembly. He was vice president of the assembly from 2001 to 2006.