Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah أحمدو ولد عبد الله
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah at a conference in Dakar in 2003.
United Nations Special Envoy for Somalia
In office 12 September 2007 – 9 June 2010
Appointed by	Ban Ki-moon
Succeeded by	Augustine Mahiga
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa
In office 2003–2007
Succeeded by	Lamine Cissé
Personal details
Born	(1940-11-21)November 21, 1940
Nationality	Mauritanian
Alma mater	University of Grenoble University of Paris

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah (Arabic: أحمدو ولد عبد الله‎‎) (born November 21, 1940) is a Mauritanian diplomat who was a senior United Nations official.

Ould-Abdallah was born on November 21, 1940 in Mauritania. He graduated from a secondary school in Dakar, Senegal. He studied economics at the University of Grenoble and the University of Paris and political science at the Sorbonne.

From 1968 to 1985 he held several cabinet-level posts in the Mauritanian government, serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and as Minister of Trade and Transportation. He also served as Mauritania's Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the European Union and the United States. Moreover, he was Chief Executive Officer at the Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière de Mauritanie, the largest mining company and cooperation in Mauritania.

Between 1985 and 1993, Ould-Abdallah worked as adviser on energy, including renewable energies and African issues, to the United Nations Secretary-General. From 1993 to 1995, he was Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's Special Representative in Burundi, during the first part of the Burundi Civil War. Between 1996 and 2002, he served as the Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa, a Washington D.C. based intergovernmental forum dedicated to African issues. In 2002, Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed him Special Representative for West Africa at the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa.