The United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (abbreviated as UNOWAS) is a United Nations political mission in Dakar, Senegal established in 2002 for preventive diplomacy, political mediation, and facilitation in West Africa and the Sahel. It is managed by the United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs [1]
In a letter [2] to the UN Secretary-General on 28 January 2016, the Secretary Council requested the Office of the Special Envoy for the Sahel (OSES) and the United Nations Office for West Africa (UNOWA) to merge into a single entity, UNOWAS: the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel. The merger intends to craft synergies to better engage with the countries of West Africa and the Sahel.
On 12 February 2016, Mr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas assumed the functions of Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (SRSG), while Ms. Hiroute Guebre Sellassie became Deputy Special Representative (DSRSG).
UNOWAS has the responsibility for preventive diplomacy, good offices and political mediation and facilitation efforts in West Africa and the Sahel. UNOWAS also works to consolidate peace and democratic governance in countries emerging from conflict or political crises.
UNOWAS works closely with the African Union, ECOWAS, the Mano River Union, the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Gulf of Guinea Commission, the G5 Sahel, as well as other regional partners to support regional solutions to cross-cutting threats to peace and security, such as terrorism and violent extremism, transnational organized crime, piracy and maritime insecurity.
UNOWAS assists regional institutions and member states to enhance their capacities to promote good governance and respect for the rule of law, human rights and the mainstreaming of gender in conflict prevention.
UNOWAS leads the implementation of the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, [3] endorsed by the Security Council in June 2013. The strategy includes a range of programs and initiatives in the areas of Governance, Security and Resilience.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) of UNOWAS chairs the Cameroon–Nigeria Mixed Commission (CNMC), which was established to facilitate the implementation of the 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Cameroon–Nigeria boundary dispute. The mandate of the Mixed Commission includes supporting the delimitation and demarcation of the 2,001 km-long land boundary and maritime boundary between the two countries, facilitating withdrawal and transfer of authority along the boundary, addressing the situation of the affected populations and supporting confidence-building measures. Resolutions and agreements on the four sections of the ICJ ruling have been reached, including the withdrawal and transfer of authority in the Lake Chad area (December 2003), along the land boundary (July 2004), and in the Bakassi peninsula (June 2006).
The peaceful completion of the transfer of authority in Bakassi from Nigeria to Cameroon, in August 2008, marked a critical milestone in the implementation of the ICJ ruling and the peaceful resolution of the boundary dispute between the two countries. Physical demarcation of the boundary has been hampered by the insecurity in border areas, in particular the violence related to the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas, [4] April 2014 – April 2021
Mahamat Saleh Annadif, [4] April 2021 –
Bakassi is a peninsula on the Gulf of Guinea. It lies between the Cross River estuary, near the city of Calabar and the Rio del Ray estuary on the east. It is governed by Cameroon, following the transfer of sovereignty from neighbouring Nigeria as a result of a judgment by the International Court of Justice. On 22 November 2007, the Nigerian Senate rejected the transfer, since the Greentree Agreement ceding the area to Cameroon was contrary to Section 12(1) of the 1999 Constitution. Regardless, the territory was completely ceded to Cameroon on 14 August 2008, exactly two years after the first part of it was transferred.
At the crossroads of West Africa and Central Africa, the territory of what is now Cameroon has seen human habitation since some time in the Middle Paleolithic, likely no later than 130,000 years ago. The earliest discovered archaeological evidence of humans dates from around 30,000 years ago at Shum Laka. The Bamenda highlands in western Cameroon near the border with Nigeria are the most likely origin for the Bantu peoples, whose language and culture came to dominate most of central and southern Africa between 1000 BCE and 1000 CE.
Cameroon's noncontentious, low-profile approach to foreign relations puts it squarely in the middle of other African and developing country states on major issues. It supports the principles of non-interference in the affairs of third world countries and increased assistance to underdeveloped countries. Cameroon is an active participant in the United Nations, where its voting record demonstrates its commitment to causes that include international peacekeeping, the rule of law, environmental protection, and Third World economic development. In the UN and other human rights fora, Cameroon's non-confrontational approach has generally led it to avoid criticizing other countries.
The Southern Cameroons was the southern part of the British League of Nations mandate territory of the British Cameroons in West Africa. Since 1961, it has been part of the Republic of Cameroon, where it makes up the Northwest Region and Southwest Region. Since 1994, pressure groups in the territory claim there was no legal document in accordance to UNGA RES 1608(XV) paragraph 5, and are seeking to restore statehood and independence from the Republic. They renamed the British Southern Cameroons as Ambazonia.
Mohamed Ibn Chambas is a Ghanaian lawyer, diplomat, politician and academic Ghana who has served as an international civil servant since 2006. He last served as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, and the former head of UNOWAS from April 2014 to April 2021. Previously, he served as the UN SRSG and Head of the Joint UN-AU Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (2012-2014), the Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (2010-2012) and the president of the Economic Community of West African States.
A special representative of the Secretary-General is a highly respected expert who has been appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to represent them in meetings with heads of state on critical human rights issues. The representatives can carry out country visits to investigate alleged violations of human rights and act as negotiators on behalf of the United Nations.
The United Nations Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments and advising and assisting the UN Secretary General and his envoys in the peaceful prevention and resolution of conflict around the world. The department manages field-based political missions in Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and has been increasing its professional capacities in conflict mediation and preventive diplomacy. DPPA also oversees UN electoral assistance to Member States of the organization. Established in 1992, the department's responsibilities also include providing secretariat support to the UN Security Council and two standing committees created by the General Assembly concerning the Rights of the Palestinian People and Decolonization. DPPA is based at the UN Headquarters in New York City.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah is a Mauritanian diplomat who was a senior United Nations official.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was formed on 14 August 2003 by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1500 at the request of the Iraqi government to support national development efforts.
Mahamat Saleh Annadif is a Chadian diplomat who has been serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) since 2021. He was previously the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Chad from 1997 to 2003 and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Mali from 2015 to 2021.
Relations between Cameroon and Nigeria were established in 1960, the same year that each country obtained its independence. Since then, their relationship has revolved in large part around their extensive shared border, as well as the legacy of colonial arrangements under which areas of Cameroon were administered as part of British Nigeria. The countries came close to war in the 1990s in the culmination of a long-running dispute over the sovereignty of the Bakassi peninsula. In the 21st century, however, a return to conviviality has been achieved, partly because the demarcation of their border has been formalised, and partly because the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad basin has necessitated increasingly close cooperation in regional security matters.
Tuliameni Kalomoh is a Namibian diplomat who has among other portfolios served as Special Advisor on Foreign Affairs to the President, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Namibia.
Margaret Aderinsola Vogt, was a Nigerian diplomat and political scientist who served as Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) until mid-2013. She was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 19, 2011.
The Greentree Agreement is a formal treaty which resolved the Cameroon–Nigeria border dispute over the oil and natural gas-rich Bakassi peninsula. The dispute had roots as far back as 1913; 1981, 1994, and 1996 armed clashes between Nigeria and Cameroon took place in Bakassi. The dispute was referred to the International Court of Justice and on 10 October 2002 the ICJ ruled in favor of Cameroon.
Funmi Olonisakin is a British Nigerian scholar, who is a Professor of leadership, peace and conflict at King's College London, and an Extra-Ordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria. She is the founder and former Director of the African Leadership Centre (ALC) founded on the principle of Pan-Africanism to build the next generation of leaders and scholars on the African continent with core transformational values. Olonisakin is the Programme Director of the ALC's Master of Science (MSc) programmes on Leadership, peace and security. She is a research associate of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, and was an Andrew Mellon Foundation distinguished scholar and a distinguished fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). She is currently an appointed member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) advisory group of experts. on the review of the UN Peace-building Architecture.
The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (OSRSG-SVC) is an office of the United Nations Secretariat tasked with serving the United Nations' spokesperson and political advocate on conflict-related sexual violence, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC). The Special Representative holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and chairs the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The mandate of the SRSG-SVC was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by Hillary Clinton, and the first Special Representative, Margot Wallström, took office in 2010. The current Special Representative is Pramila Patten of Mauritius, who was appointed by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres in April 2017. The work of the SRSG-SVC is supported by the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also established under Security Council Resolution 1888.
Nkoyo Esu Toyo is a lawyer, development activist, and politician. She served as a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, and as Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti. Before politics, she co-founded Gender and Development Action (GADA), an organization to improve access to economic and political opportunities for women in Nigeria. Nkoyo Toyo is an expert in governance with membership in various global women's rights groups, she is also one of the conveners of the “10 Thousand Women’s March” in Abuja, organized by the Women4Women (W4W) He4She movement to address issues affecting women.
The United Nations Regional Service Centre in Entebbe (RCSE) is a shared service centre based in Entebbe, Uganda that provides services, such as administrative, logistics and information and communications technology to various United Nations missions in Africa.
The Bakassi conflict is an ongoing insurgency which started in 2006, in the Bakassi Peninsula of Cameroon waged by local separatists against Cameroonian government forces. After the independence of Cameroon and Nigeria the border between them was not settled and there were other disputes. The Nigerian government claimed the border was that prior to the British–German agreements in 1913, and Cameroon claimed the border laid down by the British–German agreements. The border dispute worsened in the 1980s and 1990s after some border incidents occurred, which almost caused a war between the two countries.
The Cameroon–Nigeria border is 1,975 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Chad in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
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