Mozambican appointed Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for West Africa

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Leonardo Simão, Mozambique’s former minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, as his special representative for West Africa and the Sahel, the UN announced.

According to a UN note, the Mozambican diplomat, who will also assume the leadership of the Cameroon-Nigeria Joint Commission as part of his new duties, will replace Annadif Saleh from Chad, who concluded his mandate in October 2022.

A graduate in Medicine from Eduardo Mondlane University, Simão was Mozambique’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation from 1994 to 2005, after also heading the Ministry of Health from 1986 to 1994.

The diplomat recently held the post of roving ambassador of Mozambique in charge of promoting the country’s candidacy for non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), a position to which the African country was elected in mid-2022.

With information from Lusa

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