Rodolphe Adada
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Rodolphe Adada (born 24 April 1946) is a Congolese politician and diplomat. During the single-party rule of the Congolese Labour Party (PCT), he served in the government of Congo-Brazzaville as Minister of Mines and Energy from 1977 to 1984, as Minister of Mines and Oil from 1984 to 1989, and as Minister of Secondary and Higher Education from 1989 to 1991. Later, he was
Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
under President
Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer who has served as president of the Republic of the Congo since 1997. He also previously served as president from 1979 to 1992. Sassou Nguesso he ...
from 1997 to 2007 and Joint Special Representative of the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
and the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
for
Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...
from 2007 to 2009. He returned to the government of Congo-Brazzaville in 2009, serving as Minister of State for Industrial Development from 2009 to 2012, and as Minister of State for Transport from 2012 to 2016. He has been Ambassador to France since 2016.


Political career

Adada, an ethnic Mbochi, was born in Gamboma, French Congo on 24 April 1946. He obtained a doctorate in mathematics from France in the early 1970s.John F. Clark and Samuel Decalo,
Historical Dictionary of Republic of the Congo
', Fourth Edition (9 August 2012), Scarecrow Press, pages 29–30.
He was a mathematician by profession and elected to the Central Committee of the PCT in 1972. In January 1976, he became the head of the newly created scientific research department and member of the state council, with the rank of cabinet minister. Under
Joachim Yhombi-Opango Jacques Joachim Yhombi-Opango (12 January 1939 – 30 March 2020) was a Congolese politician. He was an army officer who became Congo-Brazzaville's first general and served as Head of State of the People's Republic of the Congo from 1977 to 197 ...
, he was appointed as Minister of Mines and Energy in the government named on 5 April 1977. He remained in the government under Sassou Nguesso, who took power in 1979. He remained in his post as Minister of Mines and Energy until 1984, when he was instead appointed as Minister of Mines and Oil. In the government named on 13 August 1989, he was moved to the position of Minister of Secondary and Higher Education, in charge of Scientific Research; he remained in that position until 1991. With the fall of Sassou Nguesso regime, he went into exile in France in 1992 and returned in 1997. After Sassou Nguesso returned to power in October 1997, he appointed Adada as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on 2 November 1997. In the May 2002 parliamentary election, Adada was elected to the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
as the PCT candidate in the first constituency of Ouenzé, the fifth ''arrondissement'' of
Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...
; he won the seat in the first round with 67.46% of the vote. After the election, he retained his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, and La Francophonie in the government appointed on 18 August 2002. In March 2003, Adada visited
Bangui Bangui (; or Bangî in Sango language, Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in the Central African Republic, largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a Fren ...
in the wake of
François Bozizé François Bozizé Yangouvonda (born 14 October 1946) is a Central African Republic, Central African politician who was List of heads of state of the Central African Republic, President of the Central African Republic from 2003 to 2013. He was th ...
's seizure of power in the
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
. He met with Bozizé and effectively endorsed the takeover, saying that Bozizé was trustworthy because he had expressed a "vision" of "openness" and "reconciliation". In doing so, Adada ignored the
African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...
's official condemnation of the takeover. Adada was to visit the People's Republic of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
on behalf of Congo-Brazzaville, as announced by the Chinese government on their Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on 16 March 2004. He was promoted to the rank of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in the government named on 7 January 2005. On 8 May 2007, Adada was named Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the African Union for Darfur, in which capacity he was in charge of the
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
mission there. On 31 May,
Basile Ikouébé Basile Ikouébé (born 1 July 1946 in Congo-Brazzaville) is a Congolese former ambassador who is Special representative of the President of the African Union Commission for the Great Lakes region, Head of the Liaison Office for Burundi since Octob ...
was appointed to replace him as Foreign Minister. Speaking to the
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...
on 27 April 2009, Adada said the violence in Darfur had been reduced to the point that the conflict there was "low-intensity".Guillaume Lavallee
"Darfur peacekeepers have ended massacres: chief"
Agence France-Presse, 29 August 2009.
This claim outraged many of those involved in the Darfur situation. The United Nations–African Union peacekeeping mission, UNAMID, announced on 25 August 2009 that Adada was resigning from his post and that his resignation would take effect on 31 August. UNAMID's deployment was characterized as "slow and difficult", and Adada had faced some criticism from diplomats who argued he was not effective. UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was the South Korean minister ...
praised Adada, writing to him that he had "led UNAMID with distinction during its most challenging initial deployment phase and in an environment of unprecedented difficulty." Speaking to
Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse (; AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency. With 2,400 employees of 100 nationalities, AFP has an editorial presence in 260 c ...
in an interview, Adada argued that he had been successful in his mission because massacres no were no longer occurring: "I would like to be judged, for UNAMID to be judged, on the number of deaths in Darfur." He said that he resigned as a matter of "personal choice". He reiterated his view that "there is no more fighting on the ground" and that continued violence was due to crime, not warfare. Adada also said that the Sudanese government had not fully cooperated with UNAMID, but that he had no choice but to work with the government, and he criticized the international community for not sending helicopters to UNAMID. Before he departed Sudan, he was awarded the Order of the Two Niles by Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir on 7 September 2009. Shortly after Adada left his post in Darfur, Sassou Nguesso reappointed him to the Congolese government as Minister of State for Industrial Development and the Promotion of the Private Sector on 15 September 2009. At the PCT's Sixth Extraordinary Congress, held in July 2011, Adada was elected to the PCT's 51-member Political Bureau. Following the July–August 2012 parliamentary election, Adada was moved to the post of Minister of State for Transport, Civil Aviation, and the Merchant Marine on 25 September 2012. While Adada was serving in that post, a plane crash occurred at the Maya-Maya Airport in Brazzaville on the evening of 30 November 2012, killing 32 people. Adada visited the scene on the morning after the crash. At an official tribute to the victims held on 10 December 2012, he said that the cause of the crash was being investigated. Adada was believed to be "completely marginalized" by 2013, with matters falling under his ministerial portfolio effectively controlled by Jean-Jacques Bouya. During the campaign for the September 2014 local elections, Adada was dispatched to Niari Department to campaign for the PCT's candidates there. After Sassou Nguesso's victory in the March 2016 presidential election, Adada was dismissed from the government on 30 April 2016. He was appointed as Ambassador to France in July 2016, replacing Henri Lopes, and presented his credentials to French President
François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...
on 9 November 2016.Marie Alfred Ngoma
"Diplomatie : la France officialise la nomination de l’ambassadeur Rodolphe Adada"
ADIAC, 10 November 2016 .


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adada, Rodolphe 1946 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Republic of the Congo) Ministers of foreign affairs of the Republic of the Congo Government ministers of the Republic of the Congo Congolese Party of Labour politicians Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Sudan