Cameroon’s former Prime Minister and Diplomat, Philemon Yang is now the president of the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations. He was voted by acclamations on Thursday, June 6, 2024.
Philemon Yang was the lone candidate and his candidacy was strongly supported by African Union.
Cameroon was represented at the elections by External Relations Minister, Lejeune Mbella Mbella.
Philemon Yang will assume office in September 2024 to replace Dennis Francis.
He has a mandate of 12 months at the helm of the UN General Assembly.
Philemon Yang is not the first African to preside over the UN General Assembly since the UN was formed in 1945. He is the 12th!
The first African to have handled the top job was Ghanaian born Alex Quaison Sackey: that was in 1964.
Nigeria is the only African country that has presided over the UN General Assembly twice.
The first time Nigeria did so was in 1989 towards the end of the Cold War, when Joseph Nanven Garba of Nigerian nationality was elected to the position. The second Nigerian to handle the post was Professor and Diplomat Tijani Muhammad Bande who was elected in 2019 to Preside over the 74th UNGA.
Other Africans who have done so include former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika who was elected President of the UNGA in 1974 when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of his country at the time. In 1979, it was Former Tanzanian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Salim Ahmed Salim who presided over the 62nd UN General Assembly.
Zambia’s Paul J.F. Lusaka also handled the function in 1984. In 1994, Côte d’Ivoire’s Foreign Affairs Minister Amara Essy was elected to Preside over the 49th UN General Assembly.
In 1999 Africa’s Candidate for the post was Namibia’s Theo-Ben Gurirab. He presided over the 54th UNGA.
Former Gabonese Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Ping also presided over the UN General Assembly in 2004.
We equally had Lybia’s Ali Treki who handled the job in 2009 and Uganda’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kutesa who did same during the 69th UN General Assembly in 2014.
