African Union opens liaison office in Sudan
February 13, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Following transfer of authority from its mission (AMIS) in Sudan to the hybrid operation UNAMID, the African Union has announced the opening of an AU Liaison Office in Sudan.
The AU Office shall be based in Khartoum and Juba. Temporarily it will be headed by Boitshoko Mokgatlhe, Senior Political Officer and Officer-in-Charge, pending the arrival of Ambassador Mahmoud Kane, former Head of the Darfur Integrated Task Force (DITF), who has been appointed Head of the new AU Liaison Office in Sudan.
The African Union Commission has also appointed Ambassador M.G. Samaki of Nigeria as Senior Political Officer and Officer-in-Charge of the Juba Office.
Also, the African Union has notified the Sudanese government of its intention to appoint Oluyemi Adeniji, former Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Interior, as AU Special Envoy for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
As one of the guarantors of the CPA, the African Union is mandated to follow-up on the implementation of the peace agreement and review its progress – thus the need for an AU Liaison Office in Khartoum and Juba.
The Officer-in-Charge of the new AU Liaison Office in Sudan, Boitshoko Mokgatlhe, who is originally from Botswana, is an expert on the CPA. He served as Special Assistant to the former AU Special Envoy to the Sudan Peace Process, Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe in 2003-2005.
During that time, Boitshoko was involved in the Sudan Peace Talks in Kenya that produced the CPA. Since 2005 and until his recent appointment to head the new AU Liaison Office in Sudan, Mr. Mokgatlhe was in charge of the CPA implementation file for the African Union, and based in Khartoum.
The AU Liaison Office in Sudan shall take over most of the assets of the former African Union Mission in the Sudan (AMIS) and shall be located at the former AMIS Headquarters on Street 49, Amarat, Khartoum.
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