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Congo-Kinshasa: Monuc's Electoral Division Lost One of Its Mainstays - Hassane Drame
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United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa)
COLUMN
14 November 2007
Posted to the web 14 November 2007
Mathy Mupapa
His colleagues saw him on Saturday, November 10, 2007 at the reception for the outgoing Director of MONUC's Electoral Division. They ate, drank, talked and had fun with him. Many spent time with him on Sunday, till late in the evening. And many others had him on the phone on Monday, a little before he boarded the plane bound for Bunia, his duty station. Yet, they could not guess at all that it was the last time they saw him, that starting on Monday at quarter to one, they would speak of him in the past.
Hassane Drame, Coordinator of MONUC's Electoral Section in Bunia breathed his last in an ambulance taking him to hospital, after a short feeling of faintness during the stop in Kisangani on Monday, November 12, 2007, leaving his wife Béatrice, his two children aged 9 and 12 as well as his many workmates astounded and in a state of shock. He had come to Kinshasa to participate in a workshop for the evaluation of missions jointly organized by the IEC, the Ministry of Interior, the Electoral Division and the UNPD in the provinces. He also took part in discussions on the work plan for the Electoral Division from January to June 2007.
Hassane was among the section's first staffs to be deployed to the capital city of Ituri District, some time after his arrival in the Mission on October 12, 2004 as a United Nations Volunteer. Though he worked in a difficult area, his competency and savoir-faire were outstanding. Tadjoudine Ali-Diabacte, the Director of MONUC's Electoral Division, said he was "a great manager who had excellent relationships with his workmates and the local people. He had a vision and used to say that if he succeeded in his mission in the DRC, he could easily make it in other places on the African continent." "We have lost one of the key persons in the Electoral Division, a great expert for Africa, a brother," Mr. Diabacte concluded with emotion.
"Hassane was the mainstay in the electoral process in Ituri" said Charles Providence Gomis, a former Director at MONUC now back in his home Ivory Coast. "Hassane was a young brother, absolutely distinguished and humble" he underlined. For Daniel Tagne of the Electoral Division's Civic Education Unit, Hassane was "a friendly man, simple, eager to give you information whenever you asked him."
As for Adolphe Nsoke from the Electoral Section in Bunia, recalls Hasssane Drame as a "very professional, sociable and dynamic" man. Yasmine Thiam from the Political Affairs Section in Bunia saluted, as did many of Hassane's workmates, his kindness and devotion. "How can we forget about him while the results of his work in Ituri are so obvious?" asked John Dimandja, a representative of the national staff in that district.
A native of Senegal, Hassane Drame held a PhD in social sciences from the University of Bordeaux, France. Before joining MONUC, he worked in many NGOs in Senegal and France, where he lived.
Hassane's life came to a sudden halt on Monday, November 2007, at age 50.
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We already miss you, Hassane. Rest in peace.
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| Copyright © 2007 United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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