Newly Appointed SRSG and Head of MINUSMA, Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, Takes Office in Mali

15 Jan 2016

Newly Appointed SRSG and Head of MINUSMA, Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, Takes Office in Mali

 

Bamako, 15 January 2016 - The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Mali and Head of MINUSMA, Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, arrived today in Bamako.

 

Mr. Annadif, from Chad, was appointed by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as his Special Representative for Mali on 23 December 2015.

 

"I am deeply honored by the confidence the Secretary-General has placed in me by giving me this exciting mission. I look forward to working with His Excellency Mr. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of Mali, and with the Malian Government and all partners involved in the crisis facing this sister country. I realize the numerous expectations raised by the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali, but I am also well aware of the difficulties and challenges to overcome," Mr. Annadif said upon his arrival.

 

"With the help of my Malian sisters and brothers, I hope to meet these challenges and to live up to the trust that has been placed in me,” SRSG Annadif added.

 

He also reiterated its desire to see MINUSMA completing all the missions entrusted to it by the United Nations Security Council in accordance with its mandate. "MINUSMA will ensure that Peace, Stability, and Security return to Mali, while recognizing that the key to these problems lies primarily in the hands of the men and women of Mali", he concluded.

 

About Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif

 

Mr. Annadif brings to this position extensive national and international experience. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chad (1997-2003), Chief of Staff to the President (2004-2006) and Secretary General to the Presidency (2010-2012). He also served as Permanent Representative of the African Union Commission to the European Union from 2006 to 2010. In the course of his career, he took part in several peace processes in Africa, including in Niger, the Central African Republic and Sudan. From 2012 to 2014, he was the African Union Special Representative and Head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

 

Mr. Annadif holds an engineering degree in telecommunications from the Polytechnic School of Madagascar.

 

Born in 1956, he is married and has six children.