Ambassador Smail Chergui
African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security
Born on 4 September 1956 in Algeria
12 October 2013: Sworn in as Commissioner for Peace and Security of the African
Union, replacing Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra, who was appointed as the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Algeria on 11 September 2013
2008: appointed as the Algerian ambassador to the Russian Federation.
Consul General in Geneva Switzerland
1997-2004: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Algeria to Ethiopia,
Eritrea and Djibouti, where he played a major role in negotiating the Algiers Agreement
that ended the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. During the same period he served as the
Permanent Representative of Algeria to the Organisation of African Union (OAU), then
the African Union (AU) and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA).
1980: started his diplomatic career with the Algerian Ministry of Foreign affairs after
graduation from University. He has worked at the Algerian embassy in Morocco and at
the Press Department of the Algerian Foreign Affairs ministry before heading the
Foreign Minister's chancellery