by Phyllis Johnson – SANF 07 No 1
Africa will continue to occupy an influential position in the executive offices of the United Nations following the appointment of a Tanzanian to the number two position at UN headquarters in New York.
Dr Asha-Rose Migiro of the United Republic of Tanzania becomes the highest ranking African at the UN and the highest ranking woman.
The appointment of Migiro is a bold and rapid decision of the new UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, fulfilling his promise to appoint a woman to a top position.
The Secretary-General, who worked with Migiro last year when they both served as foreign ministers of their respective countries, described her as “a highly respected leader who has championed the cause of developing countries over the years.
“Through her distinguished service in diverse areas, she has displayed outstanding management skills with wide experience and expertise in socio-economic affairs and development issues,” Ban said in his announcement.
“I have deep confidence in and respect for her, and intend to delegate much of the management and administrative work of the Secretariat, as well as socio-economic affairs and development issues, under a clear line of authority to ensure that the Secretariat will function in a more effective and efficient manner.”
Migiro, 50, was selected from a short list of candidates that included men and women. She replaces Mark Malloch Brown of the United Kingdom.
She has been released from her duties as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to take up the new post immediately.
The Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete, said in a statement that he had received the news with pride. “The foreign ministry is a very important portfolio to me, but this choice is also an honour to my country and I am very proud of Dr. Migiro.”
The honour extends to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), where Migiro has been representing her country at ministerial level as current head of the Troika of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
The United Republic of Tanzania has been a member of the UN Security Council for the past two years, during 2005 and 2006, and served as President of the Security Council one year ago, in January 2006, during delicate deliberations on Iraq. Tanzania was previously on the Security Council 30 years ago, in 1975 and 1976.
Migiro holds a law degree, LL.B(Hons), and a Masters (LL.M) from the University of Dar es Salaam, as well as a doctorate in legal studies from Konstanz University in Germany.
She is a non-constituency member of the Tanzanian parliament, the Bunge, holding one of the proportional representation seats reserved for women. She served as Minister for Community Development, Women and Children from 2000 to 2005, and prior to that, she was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Migiro has become the most senior of a growing number of Tanzanian women occupying top positions in global governance and development.
The list includes Gertrude Mongella, who was Secretary-General of the UN Fourth World Women Conference in Beijing in 1995, which agreed on a Programme For Action that continues to provide the framework for women’s empowerment and participation.
Mongella, a former government minister, rose to the level of Assistant Secretary-General, and is now Speaker of the Pan-African Parliament. She is an elected constituency member of the Bunge.
Another Tanzanian, Dr Anna Tibaijuka, was the first African woman elected by the UN General Assembly as Under-Secretary-General of a UN programme, and is currently serving a second, four-year term as the Executive Director of UN Habitat.
She is also Director-General of the UN Office at Nairobi (UNON), which includes the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the only UN headquarters in Africa and the developing world. Tibaijuka pursued an active academic career as a professor of economics at the University of Dar es Salaam before joining the UN.
At continental level, Rosebud Kurwijila from Tanzania has completed three years as a member of the first African Union Commission, with responsibility for Rural Economy and Agriculture.
She holds post-graduate degrees in Agricultural Economics and Development Economics, has occupied senior management positions in the Ministry of Agriculture, and also lectured in agricultural development at Sokoine University of Agriculture.
Tanzania recently celebrated 45 years of independence, having been one of the first African countries to gain independence in 1961, as Tanganyika. Joining with Zanzibar in 1964, the country became the United Republic of Tanzania.
The founding father and inspiration of the nation, Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, actively supported gender equality in education and other spheres, and the involvement of women in politics. Thus Tanzania has a long modern history of aspiring to gender parity, although some challenges and inequalities still remain.
The Tanzanian parliament has guaranteed seats for women and a constitutional provision for at least 30 percent representation.
A senior Tanzanian diplomat widely respected internationally, Dr Salim Ahmed Salim, who served three terms as Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the precursor to the AU, welcomed the appointment of Dr Migiro, citing her “skills and commitment”.
Salim, the Chairperson of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation and currently the AU Special Envoy on Sudan’s Darfur conflict, was himself an aspirant for the post of UN Secretary-General at a very young age when he served as his country’s representative to the UN in New York more than 35 years ago.
Of Migiro, he says, “I know she can do the job and I wish her well.”
