Smail Chergui

Smail Chergui (2014)

Smail Chergui ( Arabic إسماعيل شرقي, DMG Ismāʿīl Šarqī ; * September 4, 1956 ) is an Algerian diplomat . As Commissioner for Peace and Security, he is currently a member of the ten-member commission of the African Union .

Career

Chergui began his diplomatic career in 1980 when he started working for the Algerian Foreign Ministry. First he worked in the Algerian embassy in Morocco , then he moved to the press department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then he became chairman of the foreign minister's office. From 1997 to 2004 Chergui served as Algeria's Plenipotentiary Special Envoy for Ethiopia , Eritrea and Djibouti . In this role he worked on the drafting of the Algiers Agreement , signed in 2000 , which included a ceasefire between Ethiopia and Eritrea. At the same time, Chergui was already working as Algerian ambassador to the African Union and the predecessor organization Organization for African Unity . After finishing his role as special envoy, Chergui moved to the Algerian consulate general in Geneva before becoming Algerian ambassador to Russia in 2008 . For his commitment to strengthening Algerian-Russian relations and for supporting Islam in Russia, he was awarded the Al-Fakhr Order , an award from the Russian Mufti Council.

Chergui at a meeting with the then Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (2015)

On October 12, 2013, Smail Chergui was sworn in as the successor to Ramtane Lamamra for the office of Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union, in January 2017 he was able to prevail in a vote against the Nigerian competitor Fatima Kyari Mohammed and thus a second, four-year-old Tackle tenure. One focus of his diplomatic work is the fight against terrorism , particularly in the Sahel region . He announced comprehensive measures on the part of the AU to combat expanding terrorism, but also criticized the inadequate equipment of the troops of the G5 Sahel . The engagement against terrorist groups like Boko Haram was also the focus of a meeting between Chergui and the EU foreign affairs representative Mogherini in November 2017. The situation in Somalia and the African Union mission there , at which six Burundian soldiers had previously been killed, were also discussed . Chergui traveled to the Burundian capital Bujumbura in January 2017 to commemorate these soldiers . During the 70th General Assembly of the United Nations in October 2015, Chergui met the then German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier . The talks focused on combating the trade in so-called small arms and light weapons in North Africa and the Sahel. In April 2016, Chergui took part in a so-called Core Group Meeting of the Munich Security Conference in Addis Ababa .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Danish Foreign Policy Committee (ed.): Ambassador Smail Chergui . Copenhagen 2016, p. 1 .
2. ^ Extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Algeria Smaïl Chergui awarded with Order of Honor "Al-Fakhr". Retrieved April 15, 2019 . 
3. ^ Algerian Smail Chergui re-elected AU Commissioner for Peace, Security. Retrieved April 15, 2019 . 
4. ^ Terrorism 'expanding' in Sahel, African Union security chief warns. February 11, 2019, accessed April 15, 2019 (American English). 
5. ↑ Federica Mogherini meets Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African Union. Retrieved April 15, 2019 (Russian). 
6. ↑ European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Joint communiqé by Federica Mogherini, Neven Mimica and Smail Chergui. Retrieved April 15, 2019 . 
7. ^ AU pays tribute to Burundian soldiers killed in Somalia. Retrieved April 15, 2019 (American English). 
8. ^ Federal Foreign Office: Federal Foreign Office - Strategic Partnership between Germany and the AU - Joint Declaration by Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Commissioner Smaïl Chergui. Retrieved April 15, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Core Group Meetings - Munich Security Conference. Retrieved April 15, 2019 .