Lead Member of the African Union High Advisory Group, Chief Strategist for Intergovernmental

Dr Mehari Taddele Maru

Lead Member of the African Union High Advisory Group, Chief Strategist for Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), DrMehariTaddeleMaru was former Official of AU, Programme Head of Institute for Security Studies, and Director at Addis Ababa University.

Adjunct Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University, a specialist in human rights and humanitarian law, Dr. iur. Mehari lectures at UN Institute for Economic Development and Planning (Senegal), and African Center for Strategic Studies (USA) and NATO Defense College (NDC).

An expert in Public Policy and Administration, Management and Peace and Security as well as Migration, he serves as freelance strategist on peace and security, political and migration issues. He has made presentations at Peace and Security Council, Permanent Representatives Committee of the AU, AU and IGAD ministerial commissions, and UN Human Rights Council Intergovernmental Working Groups. Prior to this, he served as Programme Coordinator at African Union Commission, Programme Head for Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis, and Director for University Reform. A former fellow of very prestigious programmes (such as George Mason, Shell, Partnership for Peace) at Harvard and Oxford Universities, Max Planck Institute and NATO Defense College, he holds a Doctorate of Legal Sciences (DSL) from JL Giessen University, Germany, an MPA from Harvard and an MSc from the University of Oxford, as well as an LLB from Addis Ababa University.

His clients include the AU, IGAD, the United Nations, African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA), the West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP), the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Deutsche GessallschaftfürInternationaleZusammenarbeit (GIZ), European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), Life and Peace Institute (L&PI), Enough Project and Not on Out Watch.

Published by the globally respected legal and academic publisher—Eleven International Publishing based in The Hague, Netherlands, his recent book entitled The Kampala Convention and Its Contributions to International Law’, examines the African Union Convention on the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons – known as the Kampala Convention – which entered into force on 6 December 2012. With a foreword by Dr Francis Deng, the leading scholar in the field and the Former Under-Secretary General Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, andan introduction by AU Commissioner of Political Affairs, the book analyses in great depth the provisions of the Kampala Convention in relation to the governance of migration, peace and security and international law in Africa. He has also published several articles in reputable international and African journals. Read details at