General Lamine CISSE: one of the stabilizing kepis of senegalese institutions.

General Lamine CISSE: one of the stabilizing kepis of senegalese institutions
A key actor of the first democratic alternation, Lamine Cissé was born on December 31st, 1939 in Sokone, Senegal. He graduated:
in 1963, from the Special Military School of Saint Cyr,
in 1992, from the National Defense University of Washington, D.C.
from Fort Leavenworth Chief Staff College of Kansas City. He was the first Senegalese to be certified by this prestigious school.
Strong fighter for peace and security in Africa, this higher eminent and very respected senior officer, from strong military institutions, has had a long and distinguished career in the Senegalese army.
From 1993 to 1996, he served first as Inspector General of the Armed forces, the highest function assigned to a general officer, and then as Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces from 1996 to 1997, before his retirement.
Convinced of the probity and experience of this man of values and principles, President Abdou Diouf called upon him in 1997 as Minister of the Interior.
He was the first Senegalese military at this strategic position and was in charge of organizing the parliamentary elections in 1998, then the Senatorial elections in 1999, and then the presidential ones in 2000, which led to the first peaceful and bloodless democratic transition in Senegal.
Considered as one of the stabilizing kepis of Senegalese institutions, from 2001, General Cissé began a brilliant career as an international civil servant, both within the United Nations and in West African organizations.
In 2001, Koffi ANNAN appointed him Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in the Central African Republic and Head of the United Nations Peacebuilding Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA).
In 2008, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, appointed him to the head of the United Nations Office in West Africa (UNOWA. As part of this mission and considering his quality as Chairman of the Cameroon/Nigeria Mixed Commission for the Bakassi border dispute, he had to supervise the final signing of the maritime border line in this archipelago.
His rich collaboration with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a fruitful cooperation that allowed him to share his wisdom, experience and leadership principles.
In 2008, he received the Visionary Award prize from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, which recognizes his achievements in the promotion of peace, security and good governance.
In 2010, General Cissé became Special Envoy of ECOWAS in the Republic of Guinea for the Security Assessment for Security Sector Reform in that country. In 2011, he was appointed as the United Nations Coordinator for Security Sector Reform in Guinea.
This man of values and principles, rigorous and profoundly humane, who served wherever duty called him, was honored and distinguished on several occasions. He was:
in 1997, the first Senegalese admitted to the Hall of Fame of the US Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
and in 2004, the first African admitted to the Hall of Fame of the National Defense University, Washington DC.
in 2010, the First Non-American Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Defense University, Washington DC.
General Cissé has received numerous honorary distinctions, among which:
Grand Cross of the National Order of the Lion - Senegal
Grand Cross of the Order of Merit - Senegal
Officer of the Order of Merit - France
Officer of the Legion of Honor, decoration awarded in France, at the Camp des Loges, in front of the Front des Troupes in 1979.
Grand Officer of the National Order of Nigeria
His enthusiasm has long contributed to raising the level of African military professionalism because wherever he served, he brought energy, mind alertness, citizenship and dignity to the Security Forces.
He passed away in April 2019, in Dakar, at the age of 80, the cheer closed definitively on the work and the life of a brilliant General Officer coupled with a model and exemplary head of family. He was an exceptional man, with multidimensional qualities, who marked his time. Also, all the people he met will forever perpetuate his legacy. Partners West Africa - Senegal pays tribute to its first Chairman of its Board with the collaboration of its partners.
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macha Allah que la terre lui soit légère