Mohamed Ibn Chambas (born 7 December 1950 in

Bimbilla Bimbilla is the capital town of Nanumba North District, a district in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is located in the East of the region, and is near the Oti River. History Bimbila was founded by Naa Mnantambo (son of Na Gbewa) after movin ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

) 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 The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Special Representative of the Secretary-General for

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mau ...

and the

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

, 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 The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

(2010-2012) and the president of the

Economic Community of West African States The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

(ECOWAS, 2006–2009).

Early life and education

He attended

Mfantsipim School Mfantsipim is an all-boys boarding secondary school in Cape Coast, Ghana, established by the Methodist Church in 1876 to foster intellectual, moral, and spiritual growth on the then Gold Coast. Its founding name was Wesleyan High School and ...

, Cape Coast, and Government Secondary School, now

Tamale Secondary School Tamale Senior High School formerly Government Secondary School, Tamale, Gbewaa Secondary School, and more recently Tamale Secondary School is a co-educational second cycle boarding school located at Education Ridge, a suburb of the Sagnarig ...

Tamale A tamale, in Spanish tamal, is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa, a dough made from nixtamalized corn, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf. The wrapping can either be discarded prior to eating or used as a plate. Tam ...

. He holds degrees in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

from

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the B ...

, Legon (B.A. 1973) and

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to ...

Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, PhD 1980). He has a law degree from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Res ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U ...

, Ohio. He was admitted to practice law in Ghana and the State of Ohio.

Career

His working in the United States includes teaching at Oberlin College, Ohio, and practising law with the

Legal Aid Society of Cleveland The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland is a legal aid society in Cleveland, Ohio established in 1905. It helped pioneer a nationwide legal aid movement whose leaders held to a simple but profound principle: that rich and poor alike are entitled to e ...

and the Cleveland, Ohio, Law Office of Forbes, Forbes and Teamor. He returned to Ghana, where he became a school administrator.

Politics

Deputy Foreign Secretary

Chambas first entered government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Secretary of Ghana. He was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries, including the US, China, UK, France, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. He led Ghana's delegation to the UN General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the OAU and the

(ECOWAS), the Non-Aligned Movement, and the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...

MP 1993–1997

He served as MP for

from January 1993 to January 1997 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. He was First Deputy Speaker of the Ghanaian Parliament (1993–1994), and thereafter was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. As First Deputy Speaker, he was Chairman of the Appointments and Privileges Committees of Parliament. In 1993–94, he chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament with oversight responsibility for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Civil War mediator

Chambas came to international importance as mediator between the parties of the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Na ...

of the 1990s, and later the Ivorian Civil War in the early 2000s. Centrally involved in the ECOWAS mediation efforts in Liberia, he directly participated in negotiations leading to the agreements ending the Liberian civil war. In the interim, Chambas lost his Parliamentary seat in 1996, and the then government of President

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1992, and then served two terms as the de ...

removed him from the foreign ministry and put him in charge of Ghana's primary education system.Profile: Mohammed ibn Chambas
BBC, Friday, 4 October 2002.

Deputy Minister of Education

Between April 1997 and December 2000, Chambas was appointed the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education. In that capacity, he had direct responsibility for the country's five universities, 10 polytechnics and agencies/institutions charged with formulation of policies on higher education, accreditation and maintenance of standards in tertiary institutions. Chambas was involved in reform of tertiary education which included diversification of funding, cost sharing, the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, aimed to improve the quality and financial standing of tertiary institutions. He also led negotiations and conflict resolution processes during student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other staff members. Chambas was at the time suggested in the Ghanaian press as a candidate for the

New Patriotic Party , logo = , colorcode = #132f7a , founder = , founded = 28 July 1992 , dissolved = , leader = Nana Akufo-Addo , chairman = Stephen Ayensu Ntim Stephen Ntim elected NPP National Chairman on fifth attempt http://www.gna.org.gh/1.2152672 ...

(NPP).

Mohammed_Ibn_Chambas_greets_US_officials_2007

Return to parliament

Regaining his seat in 2000, he was also a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which worked to facilitate a transition to constitutional democratic governance in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

, Sierra Leone and

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 c ...

. Reelected on 7 December 2000 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. Shortly thereafter, he was nominated to head ECOWAS by Ghanaian President

John Kufuor John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor (born 8 December 1938) is a Ghanaian politician who served as the President of Ghana from 7 January 2001 to 7 January 2009. He was also Chairperson of the African Union from 2007 to 2008. Kufuor's career has been sp ...

. In 2002, he was the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Minority National Democratic Congress. He was also a member of the Select Committee on Education and the Committee on Subsidiary legislation.

Diplomatic career

ECOWAS

In 2001, Chambas was elected as the Executive Secretary of the

(ECOWAS), and acceded to the office on 1 February 2002. As Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, he was chief executive of the 15-person Executive Secretariat of the international organisation from 2002 to 2006.

United Nations

On 20 December 2012, Chambas was appointed as Joint Special Representative for Darfur and Head of the

United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur The African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (known by its acronym UNAMID) is a joint African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission formally approved by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769 on 31 ...

(UNAMID) by the United Nations Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

and African Union Commission Chairperson

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma (née Dlamini; born 27 January 1949), sometimes referred to by her initials NDZ, is a South African politician, medical doctor and former anti-apartheid activist. A longstanding member of the African National Cong ...

. He succeeds

Ibrahim Gambari Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, (born 24 November 1944), is a Nigerian academic and diplomat who is currently serving as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria. Early life and education Ibrahim Agboola Gambari was born on 24 November 1944 in Ilor ...

of Nigeria. On 12 September 2014, he was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the

United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel 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 ...

(UNOWA).Secretary-General appoints Mohamed Ibn Chambas of Ghana Special Representative for West Africa
UN Press Release, 12 September 2014. He left office in April 2021, with

Mahamat Saleh Annadif Mahamat Saleh Annadif (born December 25, 1956)''The International Who's Who 2004'', Routledge, page 53. is a Chadian diplomat who has been serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Af ...

replacing him.

References

External links

Biographical profile at Ghanaweb

Biographical profile at the Website of the Office of the Presidency, Economic Community of West African States

Irin Interview With Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary Of ECOWAS
U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Tuesday 12 March 2002. *
Chambas in Motherland Documentary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambas, Mohamed Ibn 1950 births Ghanaian MPs 1993–1997 Ghanaian MPs 2001–2005 Ghanaian diplomats Ohio lawyers Ghanaian Muslims Living people Executive Secretaries of the Economic Community of West African States Mfantsipim School alumni Case Western Reserve University School of Law alumni University of Ghana alumni Cornell University alumni National Democratic Congress (Ghana) politicians Tamale Senior High School alumni People from Cleveland