Ambassador Bangali off to observe Sudan’s elections
Author: Abdul Karim Koroma - Ethiopia
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Dr. Jean Ping has selected Sierra Leone’s Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to be on the AU Observer Mission to observe the forthcoming Sudanese Legislative and Presidential Elections to be held on 10
th and 11
th April 2010.
His Excellency Ambassador Andrew Bangali who will be joined by a battery of diplomats and some staff from the Commission left Addis Ababa on Sunday 4
th April and the team is expected to return on 18
th April, 2010.
His selection cannot be unconnected with his resourceful interventions and exemplarily performance during meetings at the African Union Headquarters plus his immeasurable knowledge in contemporary global issues, world politics and international bureaucracies.
A faxed letter from the Bureau of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission addressed to Ambassador Bangali stated inter alia: “I have the honour to inform you that the Chairperson of the African Union Commission has decided to dispatch an observer mission to Sudan on the occasion of the Legislative and Presidential Elections which will be held on 10
th April 2010.
“In that regard, the Chairperson of the Commission would like you to be part of the said mission.”
It is pertinent to note that this is not the first time the Commission has selected Ambassador Bangali to be part of an African Union Mission. From 8
th-14
th June, 2009, he led an African Union Sub-Committee on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons’ Mission to Algeria.
In January this year, he was on the Commission’s Second Pre-Election Assessment and Humanitarian Mission to the Republic of Sudan.
Abdul Karim Koroma, Information Attaché, Sierra Leone Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia