The African Union Commission has appointed Ms. Fiona Lortan as the Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) to Somalia and Deputy Head of Mission.
Fiona Lortan, said the African Union Commission, takes a wealth of experience to the position and will play an important role in the transition phase of the African Union’s commitment to ensuring a stable and secure Somalia.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is an active, regional peacekeeping mission under the African Union with the approval of the United Nations. It was established by the African Union Peace and Security Council on January 19, 2007 with an initial mandate of six months. The mission has a military, police and civilian or humanitarian component.
AMISOM has some 20,000 troops in Somalia, mainly from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti. Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Sierra Leone are the six police contributing countries. The military component, the largest of the three components of the Mission, is mandated to conduct peace support operations in Somalia and seeks to stabilize the situation in the country and create the conditions necessary for the conduct of humanitarian activities and an eventual transfer of the Mission to a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
Various roles in African Union
Fiona Lortan joined the African Union Commission in May 2002 and has worked in various roles in ensuring Peace and Security around the continent. She was most recently the Acting Director for Conflict Management in the Political Affairs Peace and Security Department (PAPS) and worked assiduously on AMISOM. She previously worked in Khartoum, Sudan, as a member of the AU High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan and South Sudan, headed by former South Africa President, President Thabo Mbeki.
The African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS), H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, underscored the importance of the next few months for AMISOM as the mandate ends on 31st March 2022. He said: “I would like to thank Ms. Fiona Lortan, for accepting the role as Deputy SRCC during this interim period. Among many other tasks, she will work to help the African Union to deliver on all that is required to end AMISOM and follow through on ongoing preparations for the mandate, composition, size, and structure of a proposed new mission in Somalia”.
Fiona Lortan is a South African national and has a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in Social and Political Theory from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, South Africa and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
