Ambassador Ralph Uwechue is dead!
One of the greatest Nigerian and of Igbo fraction Ambassador Ralph Uwechue is dead .
The late Abassador died today in Abuja at 80 .
Ambassador Uwechue was the former President-General Ohaneze Ndigbo, .
He was a Minister of Biafra , A former Health Minister under ex – President Sheu Shagari
He was the first Nigerian Ambassador to France .
A super journalist, an intercontinental author , a sound
Amb Raph UwechueAmbassador Raph Uwechue was born at Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State in 1935.He attended St. John's (Rimi) College, Kaduna from 1949-1954, where he was a foundation student. He was retained as a teacher in the school for a period of eighteen months before proceeding for further studies.
Ambassador Raph Uwechue holds a BA (Hons) degree in History from the University College, Ibadan, 1960 and a Diploma in International Law and French language, 1964, from the Geneva African Institute, Switzerland.
A career diplomat, Ambassador Uwechue joined the Nigerian Foreign Service at its inception in 1960, and served in a number of countries, including Cameroun, Pakistan and Mali. He was Nigeria's first diplomatic envoy to France, where he opened the Nigerian Embassy in Paris, 1966. Ambassador Uwechue also served with UNESCO in Paris as Consultant on “general History of Africa” project between 1967 and 1970, before he retired to private business in 1970, as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of magazines and books on Africa, published in both English and French.
He is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the renowned KNOW AFRICA books- a three-volume encyclopaedia comprising, Africa Today, Africa Who's Who and Makers of Modern Africa. For ten years (1980-1990) Ambassador Uwechue lectured on African Affairs at the Royal College of Defence Studies, London, United Kingdom. As Ambassador Extraordinary and plenipotentiary, Uwechue has, since 1999, been the Special Presidential Envoy on Conflict Resolution in Africa to the Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo. In this capacity, he has brought his international experience and connections, immense knowledge and passion for Africa, to bear on his assignment.
He played a key role in the peaceful settlement of the decade-long Sierra Leonean civil war, which culminated in free and fair elections in 2002. In addition to his responsibilities as President Obasanjo's envoy on Conflict Resolution in Africa, Uwechue also heads the ECOWAS Mission in Cote d'Ivoire, charged with coordinating and monitoring peacekeeping operations towards the resolution of the crisis in that country. He was appointed chairman of the Accra III International Monitoring Group, which reported regularly on the situation in Cote d'Ivoire to the ECOWAS Authority, the African Union and the United Nations.
In recognition of his “meritorious service to Black and African Peoples worldwide”, Ambassador Uwechue was awarded an honorary membership of the “American Conference of Black Mayors” in 1982. Recognized as “a distinguished personality of African decent,” he holds the “key and Freedom” of the City of Birmingham, Alabama, USA. In 1992, he also won the “Hansib Community Award” in London, United Kingdom for “commendable service to developing countries”.
In 2003, he was a recipient of the Order of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) National Honour conferred on him by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Ambassador Uwechue is married with five children. He holds the prestigious Delta State ancient traditional title-the Ogwuluzame of Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom and the Ochudo of Asaba.