Rawlings appointed AU Special Envoy to Somalia

The African Union (AU) has appointed former president Jerry John Rawlings as special envoy to Somalia.

According to the AU, its boss, Jean Ping appointed Rawlings to the position following requests by the African body to him to appoint a “high level personality” who could garner support and generate more attention to the conflict in that country.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991 when the ditactor Siad Barre was deposed leading to an armed conflict that has worsened.

The AU says in a statement that 63-year-old Rawlings is expected to “mobilize the continent and the rest of the international community to fully assume its responsibilities and contribute more actively to the quest for peace, security and reconciliation in Somalia.”

President Rawlings is seen as an enigmatic leader in most African countries because of his posture and radical views about governance. He first came into political focus in May 1979 after a failed coup attempt to remove a military regime from power in Ghana. On June 4, 1979, he was released from detention by some junior army officers and made leader of a bloody revolution that led to the execution of former military leaders and several civilians.

Rawlings however, stood for elections twice since Ghana went under constitutional rule in 1992 and won to rule Ghana for two four-year terms as a civilian president.

By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi