Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is Director of the Centre for Strategies and Security for the Sahel Sahara.
From 1971 to 1985, Mr. Ould-Abdallah held in his native country, Mauritania, high-level positions as a cabinet member including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation. He was also ambassador to the United States and to the European Union.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah joined the United Nations as a Senior Political and Economic Adviser and served the Organization from 1985 to 1996 in a number of capacities, including as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Burundi and Special Coordinator for New and Renewable Sources of Energy and Energy Issues.
From 1996 to 2002, Mr. Ould-Abdallah was the Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa, the Washington-based intergovernmental forum dedicated to addressing African issues.
From 2002 to August 2007, Mr. Ould-Abdallah served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in West Africa and as Chairman of the Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission, established for the peaceful implementation of the international Court of Justice decision on the territorial dispute between the two countries.
In September 2007, Mr. Ould-Abdallah was appointed by the UNSG as as his Special Representative for Somalia.
Mr. Ould-Abdallah has been member of the board of a number of non-governmental organizations, academia and other organizations. He has written extensively on democracy, conflicts and human rights issues. His book “La Diplomatie Pyromane” was published by Calmann-Lévy in 1996. His book “Burundi in the Brink” was published by the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) in 2000.
Born in 1940, Mr. Ould-Abdallah is married and has a son.
