Senegalese diplomat, Ibrahima Fall has been appointed as the chief African Union (AU) facilitator of the transition in Chad.
The 79-year old lawyer leads one of the most delicate missions in his long career as an international diplomat.
A former Senegalese Minister of Foreign Affairs (1984-1990), Ibrahima Fall “will interact with all Chadian political and social actors, as well as international partners, in order to mobilize all possible resources for the success of the democratic, consensual and peaceful transition in Chad.” the African Union said in a statement released on Wednesday evening.
The AU demanded, on May 20, that the junta respect the democratic 18-month transition period during which to organize “free, fair and credible” elections.
The pan-African organization has warned that “no extension of the transition period postponing the restoration of constitutional order will be acceptable to the AU.”
And to achieve this mission, the African Union will rely on the experience of its High Representative, who is not in an uncharted territory, having held several positions within the United Nations and carried out several missions on behalf of the UN.
His illustrious career led him to the United Nations between 1992 and 1997, where he was appointed UN Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights and Deputy Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva.
He then held the post of Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the United Nations in New York, in charge of African Political Affairs (1997-2002), and Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes Region in Nairobi (2002-2007).
Fall, a former Dean of the Faculty of Legal and Economic Sciences of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar was also Special Envoy of the President of the African Union Commission for Guinea from 2008 to 2010.
Fall who unsuccessfully ran for president in Senegal in 2012 will be the privileged interlocutor of the Transitional Military Council (CMT) chaired by Mahamat Idriss Deby.
The current Chadian leader is the son of late President Idriss Deby Itno, who took power on April 20, after the death of his father on the warfront battling rebels.
CD/fss/as/APA