Professor Abdoulaye Bathily

Professor Abdoulaye Bathily was appointed Visiting Professor at the African Leadership Centre in 2016. He is a leading practitioner on the Centre's Practice of Leadership programme. He holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and Doctor of State from University Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal.

Prior to retiring as a Professor from Cheikh Anta Diop, he served as the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative in Mali (MINUSMA). He subsequently served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) as well as Representative of the SG in the International Mediation on Central African Republic.

Abdoulaye had the honour of presiding over the Praesidium of the Bangui Forum in 2015. In addition, he has held several key positions in the Government of Senegal including as Minister of Energy and Water Resources and Minister of Environment.

He has been a Member of the National Assembly and Deputy Speaker of Senegal’s National Assembly. He was also a Member of the ECOWAS Parliament and Chair of the Parliamentary Commission on Environment and Natural Resources.

He was Head of African Union (AU) Observers for several election processes. He has also been Convenor of the Coalition on Dialogue in Africa at the UNECA in Addis Ababa.

Abdoulaye has written and published extensively on Africa History and Politics. Amongst these are 'Mai 68 à Dakar la révolte universitaire et la Démocratie' (1992) and 'The Military and Militarism in Africa', which he co-edited with Eboe Hutchful. He continues to work as an Independent Expert, on conflict resolution, peacebuilding and democratic processes in Africa.