Former Ambassador of Sweden

H.E. Mr. Bo Lennart Göransson is a former Ambassador of the Government of Sweden.

He has been State Secretary in the Swedish Government and was in 1994-2003 Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.

Mr. Göransson worked from 2003 as Swedish Ambassador to Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Seychelles, and Comoros. Mr. Göransson was responsible for drafting the first Joint Assistance Strategy for Kenya and served as an EU spokesman on development assistance. He also served as a Permanent Representative to UNEP and President of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat. As a member of the Four Nations Initiative, Göransson assessed reforms of the UN and was also responsible for drafting a Swedish Government Communication to the Swedish Parliament on relations with Africa.

Mr. Göransson holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics. He has published works on development issues and Africa.

Chief, Integrated Training Service (ITS), Policy Evaluation and Training Division, UN Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support

Mark Pedersen has served with the UN since 1993. The majority of his service has been in the field where he has worked as a civil affairs officer and a political affairs officer. At headquarters in New York he has worked on policy, political, training and mission support issues. He is currently the Chief of the Integrated Training Service within the Policy, Evaluation and Training Division. Prior to joining the UN, he served in the New Zealand Army in the Royal New Zealand Artillery from 1977 to 1993.

Former Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations and Former Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL)

Lieutenant General Obiakor is former Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations and former Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). LGen Obiakor has had a long and distinguished career with the Nigerian Army, beginning in 1973.  He served as the General Officer Commanding, Second Mechanized Division, of the Nigerian Army, as Commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) Artillery Brigade in Liberia in 1996 and 1997, and as ECOMOG Chief Coordinator of the Liberian elections in July 1997.  He has also served as Chief of Administration of the Nigerian Army, with responsibility for the welfare, discipline and medical services for all Nigerian military personnel.

Born on 18 February 1951, Lieutenant General Obiakor is a graduate of the National War College in Abuja.  He holds a Master of Science degree in strategic studies from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, and has participated in numerous international military courses.

Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict

Zainab Hawa Bangura of Sierra Leone assumed her position as Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict at the level of Under-Secretary-General on 4 September 2012. In this capacity, she serves as Chair of the interagency network, UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN Action).

Ms. Bangura has over 20 years of policy, diplomatic and practical experience in the field of governance, conflict resolution and reconciliation in Africa. She served most recently as Minister of Health and Sanitation for the Government of Sierra Leone, and was previously Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the second woman in Sierra Leone to occupy this position. She was also Chief Adviser and Spokesperson of the President on bilateral and international issues. Ms. Bangura has been instrumental in developing national programmes on affordable health, advocating for the elimination of genital mutilation, managing the country’s Peace Building Commission and contributing to the multilateral and bilateral relations with the international community. She has deep experience engaging with State and non-State actors on issues relevant to sexual violence, including engaging with rebel groups.

Ms. Bangura has on-the-ground experience with peacekeeping operations from within the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), where she managed the largest civilian component of the Mission, promoting capacity-building of government institutions and community reconciliation. She is an experienced and results-driven civil society, human and women’s rights campaigner and democracy activist, fighting corruption and impunity, notably as Executive Director of the National Accountability Group, Chair and Co-founder of the Movement for Progress Party of Sierra Leone, as well as Coordinator and Co-founder of the Campaign for Good Governance.

She has received numerous national and international awards, including the Africa International Award of Merit for Leadership, the Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship, the Bayard Rustin Humanitarian Award, the Human Rights Award from the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the National Endowment for Democracy’s Democracy Award, and the African American Institute’s Distinguished Alumna Award.

Ms. Bangura is a former fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of London, with Diplomas in Insurance Management from the City University Business School of London and Nottingham University. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone.

Director of the Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF)

Since 2009, Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi is the Director of the Centre for International Peace Operations (ZIF), in Berlin. She is member of the Advisory Board of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), member of the Senior Advisory Council of the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College (Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr) and the Honorary Executive Director of the NGO “Mediothek Afghanistan e.V.”.

After her PhD, obtained in 1995 at the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) of the Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi worked from 1998 to 2009 for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation covering different positions in different countries. From 1998 to 1999 she was Project Assistant in the Argentinean office in Buenos Aires; from 2000 to 2002 she has been Desk Officer for the Development Cooperation and Conflict Transformation programme in both Bonn and Berlin; and from 2003 to 2005 Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi worked as Founding Director in the newly established Friedrich Ebert Foundation office in Kabul. Finally, from 2006 to 2009, she acted as Country Director for USA and Canada for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Washington DC.

Dr. Wieland-Karimi has an extensive list of publications that moves from her PhD dissertation on the Islamic mysticism in Afghanistan (Islamische Mystik in Afghanistan: die strukturelle Einbindung der Sufik in die Gesellschaft) to her most recent publication “Germany - a Civilian Power”.

Executive Director of Kofi Annan Foundation and Former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mr. Alan Doss is Senior Political Advisor at the Kofi Annan Foundation. He is Former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He spent his entire professional life in the service of the United Nations working on peacekeeping, development and humanitarian assignments in Africa, Asia and Europe as well as at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

He was appointed, in 2007, by Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the UN peace keeping mission (MONUC). Immediately prior to this assignment, he was the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Liberia and head of the UN mission (UNMIL). Moreover, Mr Doss had previously served as the Principal Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Côte d’Ivoire and deputy head of the United Nations Mission (ONUCI), as the Deputy UN Special Representative in Sierra Leone and deputy head of the UN Mission (UNAMSIL) while serving concurrently United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative. Until his appointment in Sierra Leone Mr Doss also held the position of Director of the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), where he managed the implementation of reforms aimed to improve the performance of UN operational activities around the world.

Mr Doss had previously served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and Regional Representative of the UNDP in Bangkok, Thailand and Director of the United Nations Border Relief Operation (UNBRO), in charge of United Nations assistance to hundreds of thousands of displaced Cambodians on the Thai-Cambodia border before their repatriation to Cambodia.

Mr Doss has written numerous articles on development, peace keeping and peace building. He delivered the 2009 Nelson Mandela Lecture on Africa at the Royal United Services Institute in London and the 2010 Count Folke Bernadotte Memorial Lecture on Protection and Peacekeeping at the United Nations Association of the United Kingdom. He has been a guest speaker and lecturer at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington D.C, the International Peace Institute in New York.

Senior Advisor (Democratic Governance) of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Former Director and Chief Governance Advisor, Democratic Governance Support Unit, Integrated Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT)

Mr. Ken Inoue has a distinguished experience in serving United Nations for more than thirty years. He was a Director and Chief Governance Advisor, in Democratic Governance Support Unit, in the Integrated Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT), in Dili. Prior to joining to UNMIT, he served as a Director, in Industry Department, in Asian Productivity Organization (APO), in Tokyo.

Mr. Ken Inoue served as a Municipal Administrator (Skenderaj/Srbica), in United Nations Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Prior to that, he was a Programme & Trust Fund Manager, in United Nations Volunteers (UNV), in Geneva & Bonn for four years, Programme Development and Management Officer, in United Nations Volunteers (UNV), in Geneva, and he served as Regional Humanitarian Affairs Officer, United Nations Operations in Somalia II (UNOSOM II), in Baidoa, Somalia.

Former Police Commissioner of United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), the United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti (MINUSTAH) and the Integrated Mission in Timor Leste (UNMIT)

Mr Luis Miguel Carrilho took up his functions as Police Commissioner of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Mission Stabilization in Central Africa Republic on 13 September 2014.

Police Commissioner Carrilho first joined the United Nations in 1996, working primarily on training of civilian police with the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) until 1998. In 2000-2001 he returned to UN peacekeeping with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).

At that time, Mr Carrilho served as the Director of the Timor-Leste Police Training College and as Spokesman for the United Nations Police Commissioner for UNTAET.

He was then appointed as Police Commissioner of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), where he served from February 2009 to the end of the Mission on December 2012.

In January 2013 he was appointed Police Commissioner of the United Nations Mission Stabilization in Haiti and he served in that function UNTIL September 2014.

Mr Carrilho previously worked at the office of the President of the Republic of Portugal as the Head of Security, where he was responsible for overseeing the safety and security of the President and his Office.

He also served as the Commander of Close Protection of the Public Security Police, commanding the provision of security protection for national principals and foreign dignities visiting Portugal. In the late 1990s, he worked as the Chief of Cabinet of the Director of the Police College in Portugal.

Former India’s Ambassador to Hungary, Vietnam, and Nepal

Mr. Ranjit Rae is an Indian diplomat with over 30 years of experience in the Indian Foreign Service, which includes participation in complex negotiations both at bilateral and multilateral levels and extensive work in conflict areas/crisis situations. Having started his career path in Vienna, where he acquired proficiency in German, he has since held various positions in international and state organizations/bodies, including the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), as well as Offices of the Minister of External Affairs and of the President of India, where Mr. Rae served as a Press Secretary to the President. As a Senior Policy Advisor to the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Mr. Rae worked in close collaboration with the UN Assistant Secretary General within the Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) on issues related to field operations.
 
In his past role as a Joint Secretary (North) at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Rae was closely associated with the development of the 12-point agreement signed in 2005 in New Delhi between then seven-party Alliance of Nepal and the CPN (Maoist). The pact initiated the peace process in Nepal, encouraged Maoist rebels to join the peace process and made the first Constituent Assembly elections a reality. Those efforts culminated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2006.
 
Recently, Mr. Rae has served as Ambassador of India to Hungary (with concurrent accreditation as Ambassador to Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) (2006-2010) and then Ambassador of India to Vietnam (2010-2013), where he reinvigorated bilateral defence and trade cooperation. He was also a member of the Commonwealth High Level Group on Governance established by Commonwealth Heads of Government at their Summit in Malta in 2015. Until early 2017, Mr. Rae was the Ambassador of India to Nepal, using his tenure to revitalise the bilateral relationship and to actively work on the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with Nepali political leaders and other stakeholders.
 
Mr. Rae holds a Post-Graduate Degree in Economics with a strong grounding in organizational matters, including strategic planning, budgeting and personnel issues.

Attorney General of Qatar and UN Special Advocate on the Prevention of Corruption

H.E. Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri is the Attorney General of the State of Qatar (since 2002) and the UN Special Advocate on the Prevention of Corruption.

H.E. Dr. Ali bin Fetais has been a member of the United Nations International Law Commission since 2002. In September 2012, Dr. Ali bin Fetais was appointed Special Regional Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) for the recovery of stolen assets. His responsibilities included supporting the activities concerning the enhancement of international strategies for stolen funds recovery, offering counsel, and contributing to the definition of capacity-building and technical assistance activities for the establishment of national systems for the recovery of funds and prevention of restricted financial flows, and enhancing mutual judicial assistance.

His mandate was renewed in 2014, and his title was modified in UN UN Special Advocate on the Prevention of Corruption. Since then, Dr. Ali bin Fetais has ex officio contributed to the call to the reduction of corruption in governmental and academic institutions.

In 2012, Dr. Ali bin Fetais established the Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center in Qatar, which was inaugurated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. He chaired the Board of Trustees of the center, which include several eminent legal figures in the world.

The Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center aims to build specialized knowledge and raise individual capacity to strengthen the rule of law and fight corruption in accordance with international standards and national requirements. It also seeks to support the parties concerned in the Arab countries and other countries in the areas of upholding the rule of law, good governance, and fighting corruption. The Center conducted many activities locally, regionally and internationally, notable of which is the organization of conferences, workshops and signing of conventions to set up anti-corruption chair in various universities including Jordan University in Jordan, Neelain University in Sudan and Qatar University in Qatar in order to raise awareness and enhance the national capabilities to boost the concepts of the rule of law and anti-corruption.

Dr. Ali bin Fetais holds an MA in Public Law from the Rennes University and a Ph.D. in International Law from the Sorbonne University.

African Union Peace and Security Commissioner

H.E. Amb. Smaїl Chergui is an Algerian diplomat, born on 4 September 1956. He was re-elected Commissioner of the African Union Peace and Security Commission after a four-year term. Ambassador Chergui has more than 30 years of experience in the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and more than 20 years in a position of high responsibility. He has extensive experience in the management of pan-African affairs, in particular as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Algeria.

In 2008, H.E. Amb. Chergui was appointed as Algerian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, following his tenure as Consul General in Geneva, Switzerland. Between 1997 and 2004, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Algeria to Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, where he played a significant role in negotiating the Algiers Agreement that ended the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. During the same period, he served as the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the Organisation of African Union (OAU), then the African Union (AU), and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). 

H.E. Amb. Chergui started his diplomatic career in 1980 with the Algerian Ministry of Foreign affairs after graduation from University. He has worked at the Algerian embassy in Morocco and the Press Department of the Algerian Foreign Affairs ministry before heading the Foreign Minister's chancellery. 

Professor of Law at the University of Ghana School of Law and former Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD)

Professor Mensa-Bonsu is a Professor of Law at the University of Ghana, School of Law, and former Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy. She is also fellow and current President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Mensa-Bonsu has researched and published extensively on Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, Family Law, and Children’s Rights. Currently, she teaches Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, and Conflict Resolution Theory and Practices at the University of Ghana School of Law.

On the Peace and Security front, Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu has served in several high-level national and international capacities. On the national plane, her most prominent assignments were her membership of the National Reconciliation Commission, the Ghana Police Council, and currently the National Governing Council of the African Peer Review Mechanism. On the international plane, she has served as the ECOWAS nominee on the International Technical Advisory Committee (ITAC) for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission; member of the OAU’s Committee of Eminent Jurists on the Lockerbie Case; and the AU’s Committee of Eminent Jurists on the Hissene Habre Case. In 2007-2011, she was appointed the Deputy Special Representative for Rule of Law in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

Since 2011, she has twice served as a Civilian Mentor to ECOWAS Mission Leadership Courses, (2012, 2016) and three times as a Mentor and Resource Person on the U.N. Senior Mission Leadership Course (2014, 2016, 2017); and on both the Pilot and First Police Commissioners Course. She has also twice served as a Resource Person on Leadership courses for women in the UN, and for the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) and three times on the UN Staff Officers Course at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping and Training Centre (KAIPTC). In 2014-2015, she served on the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations (HIPPO). She has served as a member of the Advisory Board of the African Peacebuilding Network (APN) of the Social Science Research Council of the USA. She currently serves on the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana and STAR-GHANA Foundation – a grant-making civil society Foundation; and Board of Trustees of the Methodist Church, Ghana.