APA – Dakar (Senegal) – The Mauritanian diplomat has been appointed several times as UN special envoy to countries in crisis.
Ismaïl Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Mauritania’s former foreign minister, arrived in Dakar on Sunday 28 April for a six-week advisory mission for the UN. The former head of Mauritania’s diplomatic service has been tasked with assisting the UN team responsible for the final relocation of the world body’s Dakar-based agencies to the UN building in Diamniadio.
According to information provided to APA by the Office of the Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Senegal, “Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed’s mission is to assist the United Nations entities in Senegal in preparing for their transition to the United Nations House in Diamniadio, in cooperation with the Senegalese authorities.”
The UN team in Senegal added that “although the UN House was inaugurated in November 2023, the process of moving the teams is about to become a reality.”
“Discussions are currently underway to finalise the last details, with the support of Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed’s advisor for this process,” the UN country office said.
Inaugurated by the former Senegalese president in November 2023, the United Nations House is a project launched by the Senegalese government in 2015. It aims to create a central hub for the 34 UN agencies present in Senegal and the region. Located in the heart of the city of Diamniadio, some thirty kilometres from the capital Dakar, the building focuses on environmental responsibility and sustainability, incorporating innovative energy solutions and landscaping that blends in with the local environment. The United Nations House comprises seven wings spread over 12 hectares of land.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed has experience in United Nations missions. He was the United Nations Development Programme’s Resident Coordinator in Syria from 2008 to 2012, and then in Yemen from 2012 to 2014. He then served as Deputy Special Envoy to Libya in early 2014, before heading the UN Mission to Fight Ebola in West Africa in December of that year. He served as UN Special Envoy to Yemen from 2015 to 2018. After leaving the government in March 2022, he was appointed chief of staff to Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani.
AC/lb/as/APA