Nicholas Bwakira

Nicolas Bwakira (born in 1941 in Burundi) is Burundian Diplomat, international civil servant and academician. Bwakira was the African Union Special Envoy to Somalia from November 2007 to November 2009. On September 20, 2009 in a speech at the burial of AMISOM troops killed in a suicide attack in Somalia, Bwakira called on the AU and the UN to re-examine AMISOM's mandate so that [it] can have the power to act when and as necessary. Mr. Bwakira was the chief mediator of the Djibouti negotiations between the Interim Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the opposition. Mr. Bwakira worked at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in various senior positions including the Director of the Africa Region.