NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UNOCA

2 mai 2014

NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR UNOCA


Mr. Abou Moussa welcomes the appointment of Professor Bathily

Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, a Senegalese national, is the new Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). He succeeds Mr. Abou Moussa of Chad, who is retiring after three years at the head of this institution and 34 years of career in the UN. In a statement issued on 30 April, Mr. Ban Ki -moon expressed his gratitude "for his leadership and important accomplishments of the Regional Office during his tenure at UNOCA."

Mr. Abou Moussa expresses to Professor Abdoulaye Bathily his "warm and fraternal congratulations for his promotion" and its "sincere wishes for success in its missions", at the time he is about to take up his new duties in Libreville, capital of Gabon. While welcoming the appointment, Mr. Moussa also calls on partners and leaders of the Central Africa to provide him necessary support in pursuit of the actions of the Office for the consolidation of peace, the peaceful resolution of conflicts and the promotion of preventive diplomacy. Both senior Officials will have the opportunity to discuss these issues next week in New York where Mr. Abou Moussa will be meeting the Security Council for the last time as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Central Africa. On 12 May, he will present the sixth report of Mr. Ban Ki -moon on the activities of UNOCA and on the areas affected by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Many years of political, diplomatic and academic experience

The UN Secretary-General emphasizes that Professor Abdoulaye Bathily brings to his new position many years of political, diplomatic and academic experience with his national government, academic institutions and, more recently, with the United Nations System. He has been serving as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) since July 2013.

Before joining the United Nations, Professor Abdoulaye Bathily held several governmental functions. He was notably Minister of State to the President of the Republic of Senegal in 2012 after being Minister of Environment and Protection of Nature (1993-1998) and that of the Energy and Hydraulics (2000-2001). Elected MP in 1998, he was Vice-President of the National Assembly from 2001 to 2006. During this period, Professor Abdoulaye Bathily also served as member of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He also lent his expertise to the Group of Contact of the African Union on Madagascar during the political crisis in that country.

On the academic front, Professor Abdoulaye Bathily holds a State doctorate in literature of the Université Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar (UCAD), where he taught history for 30 years. In fact, he also has a Ph.D. in history from the prestigious University of Birmingham (England). He is the author of several important works, including on the history of Africa as well as on the political and military issues. In addition, he gave lectures in many academic institutions around the world and participated in missions in the framework of conflict resolution in Liberia, Guinea -Bissau, Niger, Mali, etc.

Born in 1947 in Tuabou, in the region of Tambacounda in eastern Senegal, Professor Abdoulaye Bathily has four children.

Copyright Photo : UN/Eskinder Debebe