Augustine Mahiga, former UN SRSG for Somalia, passes away

Ambassador Augustine Mahiga, the Tanzanian politician, diplomat and former UN Special Representative for Somalia from 2010 to 2013 has passed away at his home on Friday in the Tanzanian capital Dodoma. He was 74.

According to a statement signed by Tanzania’s President, John Magufuli, Mahiga died in hospital after falling ill at his home on Friday morning.

Augustine Philip Mahiga was born on August 28, 1945. He graduated from the University of East Africa in Dar es Salaam in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts (Education) before completing his Masters of Arts at the University of Toronto in Canada. He went on to receive a PhD in International Relations from the University of Toronto in 1975.

Upon his return to Tanzania, he worked as a lecturer at the University of Dar-es-Salaam before working with the Tanzanian High Commission and later the Tanzania Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. In 1993 he was promoted to the rank of Ambassador by Tanzania and worked with the UNHCR in Liberia, India Malta before replacing Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah as the Special Representative for Somalia and Head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).

In Somalia, Mahiga will be most remembered for his role in the Kampala Accord in 2011 that forced Farmaajo to resign as Prime Minister during  Sharif Sheikh Ahmed’s administration.