Africa
Francophone Africa loses key United Nations posts

Top: Senegal's Mankeur Ndiaye (left), replaced by Rwandan diplomat Valentine Rugwabiza (right) as head of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone. Bottom: Guinea's Bintou Keita (left), who was succeeded by Ghana's Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee as Assistant Secretary-General for Africa at the DOP (right).
Top: Senegal's Mankeur Ndiaye (left), replaced by Rwandan diplomat Valentine Rugwabiza (right) as head of the UN Mission in Sierra Leone. Bottom: Guinea's Bintou Keita (left), who was succeeded by Ghana's Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee as Assistant Secretary-General for Africa at the DOP (right). © UN Photo/Loey Felipe/Evan Schneider/Simon Ruf/Eskinder Debebe
A number of senior UN posts, which have traditionally gone to diplomats from francophone Africa, are now being fought over by anglophone and lusophone African states. Meanwhile, the position for head of the Department of Peace Operations, Paris's preserve for the best part of two decades and currently headed by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Lacroix, is being chased by China. [...]
Published on 02.05.2022 at 06:00 GMT Reading time 2 minutes
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