Amb. Francisco Caetano José Madeira is the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the Commission and Head of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). He was appointed on 08 October 2015.
Amb Madeira has vast experience in Counter Terrorism and has served as the AU Special Representative for Counter-Terrorism Cooperation and Director of the Algiers-based African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism (ACSRT), a post he held concurrently with that of Special Envoy for the issue of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), from November 2011 to July 2014.
A Mozambican national, Ambassador Madeira begun his career when he joined the Mozambique Diplomatic service in 1975. Amb. Madeira has served as Ambassador of Mozambique to several African countries, and diplomatic advisor at the presidency. He was also a member of the Government delegation to the peace negotiations with RENAMO, which resulted in the signing of the August 1992 Rome General Peace Agreement for Mozambique.
Amb Madeira has held ministerial portfolios, having been, from 1995 to 1999, Minister in the President’s Office for Parliamentary Affairs and, from 2000 to 2010, Minister in the President’s Office for Diplomatic Affairs. He has contributed to several peace processes on the continent. In particular, he was the Special Representative of the Mozambican Government to the Great Lakes Region; member of former Presidents Julius Nyerere and Nelson Mandela facilitation teams in the Arusha Peace Negotiations on Burundi (1997 – 2000); Special Envoy of the AU Chairperson (former President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique) to Sao Tome and Principe, following the July 2003 coup d’Etat; member of the Southern Sudan facilitation team in the negotiations with the LRA; and OAU/AU Special Envoy for the Comoros (1999 to 2010). He was member of the National Parliament of Mozambique from 2000 to 2010.
Ambassador Madeira holds a Master of Arts Degree (Law) from the Eduardo Monoplane University in Maputo, Mozambique.
