IBRAHIM SANI ABANI CEN-SAD EXECUTIVE SECRETARy THE RIGHT MAN AT THE RIGHT TIME TO TACKLE PRESSING CHALLENGES

For five years, Ibrahim Sani Abani headed the Community of Sahel- Saharan States (CEN-SAD). Given the ongoing war in Libya where CEN-SAD was headquartered, those were unrelenting years. Yet, he managed the organization through. As a reward to his leadership and his vision, the CEN-SAD Summit of Heads

vanished. Yet, CEN-SAD’s popu- lation, around 600 million inha- bitants, that is, half of the African population, needs those programs. Appointing Mr. Sani Abani as CEN- SAD Secretary General is a reco- gnition of the enormous work he has done. In particular, he saved

Executive Secretary Sani Abani’s success at the
head of CEN-SAD, despite all odds, results from both his long diplomatic experience and his human qualities.

the programs that help a popula- tion under economic difficulties. The population all the more needs CEN-SAD programs because, in addition to the economic stress, it is now the target of terrorism and diverse forms of insecurity. Plus, most CEN-SAD countries being in a desert area, climate change is hit- ting them hard, with catastrophic consequences. Hence, the massive migrations that are killing hundreds of young Africans in the Sahara Desert and in the Mediterranean Sea.