Taddele Maru, Mehari
Professor Dr. Mehari Taddele Maru was a virtual Visiting Research Fellow at UNU-CRIS. In this capacity, he developed amongst others a working paper on “The Geopolitics in the Red Sea and their impact on peace and security in the IGAD region” and a policy brief on “Barriers to free movement within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Mehari Taddele Maru is Part-time Professor at Migration Policy Centre of the European University Institute, and he is also a member of the Centre’s Advisory Board.
He is a Member of the Technical Committee of the Tana High-Level Security Forum (modelled on, and uniquely related to the Munich Security Forum for Africa). At Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), he is the Lead Migration Expert and Legal Drafter in addition to his service as Chief Strategist on geopolitical, peace and security issues.
Previously, he was the Programme Coordinator for Migration and Legal Expert at the African Union Commission. At the AU, he drafted various blueprint policy documents on migration, peace and security, governance, and humanitarian effectiveness. These include the AU Border Governance Strategy, the Common African Position on Humanitarian Effectiveness, the Common African Position on Migration and Development, and the AU Migration Action Plan (2008-2012). He has also been involved in reviewing the AU-EU partnership and served as a resource person for the Pan African Migration Forum.
Similarly, as a chief strategist to IGAD, he drafted the IGAD State of the Region Report, the IGAD Peace and Security Strategy 2020, and the State of Peace and Security in IGAD. He also prepared the Strategy for South Sudan Mediation and the Report of the IGAD Monitoring and Verification Mechanism of South Sudan, and facilitated various South Sudan peace negotiations. As the Lead Migration Expert, he designed the IGAD Migration Action Plan (IMAP) and the Migration Priorities programme for East and Southern Africa. Recently, he drafted the IGAD Protocol for Free Movement of Persons and facilitated all negotiations and national consultative meetings on that Protocol.
In a continuing process of generating the necessary political will and prompting innovative solutions to the challenges in Africa, he has been invited to make presentations to decision and policy organs of the UN, the AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs): specifically, to the Peace and Security Council, the Permanent Representatives' Committee, AU and IGAD ministerial councils and RECs, and the UN Human Rights Council's Intergovernmental Working Groups. His work has been cited in various decisions of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, and at Council of Ministers and ministerial conferences.
Working closely with the African Union, he served as Programme Head for Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). As a Director for University Reform at Addis Ababa University, he also served as a member of the university’s Senate and Policy Committee.
In addition, he serves as a Visiting Professor and Senior Fellow at the NATO Defense College, Rome; the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; the Nigerian Defence College (Abuja); the Nigerian Armed Forces Command and Staff College (Jaji); the UN Institute for Economic Development and Planning (Dakar); and the Ethiopian Peace Support Training Centre (Addis Ababa). He is also a Senior Fellow at the Nation Building Institute of the Kingdom of Thailand in Bangkok.
