H.E. Joaquim Chissano

H.E. Joaquim Chissano

H.E. Joaquim Chissano was born in a remote village in the Gaza province of Mozambique. He studied medicine at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, but because of his political activism, he was forced to flee to Tanzania before he could finish his degree.

H.E. Chissano was a founding member of FRELIMO, the Mozambique independence movement, in the 1960s and went on to fight in the Mozambican War of Independence, eventually rising to the rank of major-general.  He served as Prime Minister of the Transitional Government from 1974 to 1975 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1975 to 1986 under the first President of Mozambique, Samora Machel.

H.E. Chissano became President of Mozambique in 1986 and left at the end of his second term in 2005. In December, 2006, he was appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and previously served as Special Envoy of the Secretary General to Guinea-Bissau and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Currently, he chairs the Joaquim Chissano Foundation and the Africa Forum.

H.E. Chissano is married to Marcelina Rafael Chissano and they have four children. He has been decorated by the governments of many countries throughout the world and has received numerous awards and honors. He was awarded the Prize for Achievement in African Leadership by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation in 2007.  His other honors and awards include the Hunger Project Prize, the Together for Peace Award, the Kellog Foundation Award and various honorary degrees from universities throughout the world.