While most Miami University students are at least somewhat aware of the struggle for peace in Darfur, alumnus Mohamed B. Yonis is now leading the charge as a key representative for the United Nations.
Yonis was appointed to succeed Hocine Medili of Algeria as the United Nations Special Representative for Operations and Management in the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) Sept. 4.
According to Miami University spokesperson Claire Wagner, Yonis graduated from Miami with a bachelor's degree in political science in 1976 and a bachelor's degree in economics in 1977.
Don Nelson, former international education director at Miami, said Yonis came to America as the result of a government sponsored program in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"(Yonis) came to Miami under a very unique program at the time, partially funded by the U.S. government, to bring young African students to this country so that they wouldn't find their way to the Soviet Union during the Cold War," Nelson said. "The program was called the African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU) and the uniqueness about it was that the home government paid for their travel, the U.S. government paid for their living and maintenance costs, and the participating universities in this country covered their tuition and fees."
According to Nelson, Yonis was one of a number of students who studied at Miami under the ASPAU program.
"I would guess that there were probably as many as 20 or 30 of these students who came to Miami, mostly from southern Africa. (Yonis) was from Somalia," Nelson said. "He did very well here, and I thought that we always had a very good relationship. When he got this appointment he called me from Darfur at the time, and I was amazed at the connection we had."
After leaving Miami, Nelson said Yonis went back to work at a bank in Africa along with other Miami graduates.
"When (Yonis) left he eventually became employed by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Ivory Coast," Nelson said. "That's a bank that tries to support development activities in Africa and there were eventually, I think, five Miami graduates who were on the staff at the African Development Bank and he was one of them."
According to a press release by the United Nations, Yonis brought a lot of experience to his new position. Yonis previously served as the director of mission support in UNAMID, and he had worked for peace in the Darfur region since 2006 when he served as the head of the Darfur Planning Team in New York.
Yonis also served as the chief administrative officer with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), and as the chief administrative officer in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO).
