Tunisian diplomat appointed as deputy to Darfur peace mediator

September 15, 2008 (UNITED NATIONS) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and A.U. Chairperson Jean Ping have announced that Tunisia’s Azouz Ennifar has been appointed Deputy Joint AU-UN Chief Mediator for Darfur.

Ennifar will assist the Joint AU-UN Chief Mediator, Djibril Yipènè Bassolé of Burkina Faso to end the five year conflict in western Sudan region of Darfur. He will be based in Al-Fasher and conducts his duties on full time basis.

The deputy served as the Secretary-General’s Acting Special Representative and as the head of the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) from July 2005 to July this year.

The Tunisian diplomat worked also in Kinshasa and Brazzaville as Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo with accreditation to the Republic of Congo in 2002 for three years.

He also served as Ambassador to Indonesia, Brazil and Italy, and has worked in the Tunisian embassy in Paris as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. In 1994 he was appointed Ambassador to the United States, with accreditation to Mexico and Venezuela.

Ennifar has also represented the Tunisian Government at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Deputy Chief Mediator was born in Tunis on 30 April 1945. He studied in Tunis, Nice, and Paris and is married with three children.

(ST)