{"id":45931,"date":"2026-09-19T14:14:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T12:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45931"},"modified":"2026-09-19T14:14:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T12:14:23","slug":"au-appoints-moroccan-diplomat-as-special-envoy-for-g20-global-affairs","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/au-appoints-moroccan-diplomat-as-special-envoy-for-g20-global-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"AU appoints Moroccan diplomat as Special Envoy for G20, global affairs \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, has appointed Moroccan diplomat Ambassador Fathallah Sijilmassi as the AU Special Envoy for G20 and Global Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The appointment aims to bolster the 55-member continental bloc&#8217;s engagement with major international decision-making bodies and ensure Africa&#8217;s priorities are represented within global governance platforms.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Under the official mandate, Sijilmassi will work alongside the AU G20 Sherpa and established governance structures to co-ordinate African positions on critical global challenges. His portfolio encompasses international financial architecture reform, sustainable development, trade, climate action, and technology.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sijilmassi previously served as Director General of the AU Commission, Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, and Morocco&#8217;s Ambassador to France and the European Union.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The appointment comes three years after the AU gained permanent membership in the G20 during the 2023 New Delhi Summit, reinforcing the continent&#8217;s institutional voice in international economic alignment and implementation of the AU&#8217;s Agenda 2063 strategic framework.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica\/AU&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15588,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-45931","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"AU Commission names Moroccan Diplomat Fathallah Sijilmassi as new global envoy","published_date":"2026-09-19 13:24:26","news_description":"AU Commission names Moroccan Diplomat Fathallah Sijilmassi as new global envoy","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45932,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45931\/revisions\/45932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}