Accra, Feb. 11, GNA – Mr William Azumah Kanyirege-Awinador, former Ambassador of Ghana to Ethiopia, has been appointed Senior Advisor of the African Union (AU) on Governance and Peacebuilding at the Office of the Commissioner, Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
Mr Kanyirege-Awinador, who was also the Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), will be based at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa.
He worked as a private consultant with ADUA (Consultancy) Centre, which focuses on research and capacity building in governance, strategic planning, diplomacy, peacebuilding, youth mentorship, regional integration and development.
Between September 2014 to June 2017, he was the High Commissioner to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Permanent Representative to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
From December 2010 to August 2014, Mr Kanyirege-Awinador was the Deputy Permanent Representative of Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
For six months - July 2009 to December 2010 - he served as the Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra.
He also served as the Director, Africa and African Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009, and earlier, the Chief of Staff and Acting Director and External Relations of the ECOWAS Commission between May 2002 to September, 2008.
Mr Kanyirege-Awinador, from October 2000 to May 2002, was Minister Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission of the Ghana Embassy in Paris and Deputy Permanent Delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
He was Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission, at the Ghana High Commission in Harare from December 1994 to December 1998.
For a year, December 1993 to December 1994, Mr Kanyirege-Awinador served as Chef de Cabinet of the Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Accra.
The newly appointed AU Senior Advisor on Governance and Peacebuilding is a product of the University of Ghana where he obtained a BA Combined Honours Degree in French and Spanish between 1977 to 1981.
He has a Master of Arts (MA) International Affairs from the Legon Centre for International Affairs, University of Ghana from 1989 to 1990.
Mr Kanyirege-Awinador subsequently obtained another MA in International Relations at the Institut International de l” Administration Publique/École Nationale d’Administration/ENA from Paris, France.
He speaks Grune, Dagbani, Hausa, English, French, Spanish,Twi and Kiswahili.
In July 2017, President Nana Akuffo-Addo named William Awinador-Kanyirige as Ghana’s Ambassador to Ethiopia.
GNA