Trans-Saharan Elections Project

Abdoul Karim Sango

is a professor of Law at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration et de Magistrature (ENAM) in Ouagadougou. His particular areas of expertise include freedom of speech, electoral law, and constitutional law. He is also a member of Burkina Faso’s Commission Electoral Nationale Indépendante (CENI, the Independent National Electoral Commission). Sango holds a Master’s of Arts degree in Human Rights and Democracy, from the UNESCO Chair of Human Rights and Democracy in Benin. He collaborates frequently with civil society organizations both as a member and as an expert on issues of democratic governance and human rights. In August 2010 he was invited to attend the Youth Forum of African leaders convened by President Obama.

TSEP country team for Burkina Faso

• Siaka Coulibaly (2012)
• Soahanla Mathias Tankoano (2011)
• Adjima David Thiombiano (2011)
• Issaka Herman Traoré (2012)
• Sita Zougouri (2012)

Baïdessou Soukolgué

is a program officer at the Chad office of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA). At EISA, he coordinates projects on political party capacity building and on fostering networking and capacity building for domestic elections observers in Chad. He also teaches at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration et de Magistrature (ENAM) in Chad. A jurist by training, Soukolgué is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in France. He also holds degrees from the Université Catholique de Yaoundé, in Cameroon.

Thérèse Mékombé

is a jurist and civil administrator by profession. She is also the President of l’Association des Femmes Juristes du Tchad (AFJT). She has been an active participant in numerous democracy promotion projects since 1991, working with various civil society organizations. In conjunction with the Chadian country office of the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), she has participated in annual training programs since 2009, notably for training and preparation domestic election observers.

TSEP country team for Chad

• Abderamane Ali Gossoumian (2012)
• Ndoubayidi Felicité Guéssé (2012)
• Madjiasra Nako (2012)

Djeneba Diarra Koné

is Executive Secretary of the NGO network Appui au Processus Electoral au Mali (APEM), TSEP’s partner organization in the country. On behalf of APEM, she holds the position of Treasurer on the Executive Board of the West African network for monitoring of Elections (ROASE). She is a member of the Observatory of the Rights of Women and Children (ODEF), as well as civil society organizations promoting transparent electoral processes. She has served as a non-partisan observer for all Malian general elections since 1997. A civil servant by profession, her experiences include service in the implementation of the National Policy on Decentralization and Deconcentration, as well as in the Ministry for the Promotion of the Family, Women and Children.

TSEP country team for Mali

• Dramane Diarra (2011)
• Bourema Kansaye (2012)
• Ibrahima Labasse Keita (2012)
• Issa Maïga (2011)
• Sékouba Samaké (2011)

Guéladio Silly Diabira

is professor of Public Law in the Faculty of Legal and Economic Sciences of the University of Nouakchott. In addition to his teaching position, he is a consultant on elections and electoral issues. He provided legal and expert advice to the European Union’s Election Observation Missions for the Mauritanian municipal, legislative and presidential elections held between November 2006 and March 2007 in Mauritania. He then occupied the position of legal adviser to the Minister of the Interior and Decentralization from 2007 to 2009. In that capacity, he was involved in the organization of the 2009 presidential election.

TSEP country team for Mauritania

• Mehla mint Ahmed (2011)
• Aichetou Haidara Eboubecrine (2012)
• Amadou Sall (2011)
• Khadijetou Sall (2011)

Oumarou Hamani

is a researcher at LASDEL, a major social science research center and TSEP’s partner organization in Niger. He holds a PhD in social anthropology and Ethnology from the School of Advanced Study in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Marseille (France). His research has focused on the regulation of the Nigerian judiciary, and in particular with the issue of the functioning of the justice system as influenced by the differences between the everyday practices and professional cultures of legal professionals and the official institutional structures. His research interests revolve around judicial systems, electoral systems, democracy and governance, and migration.

TSEP country team for Niger

• Illa Toullou Ahmet (2011)
• Aminatou Daouda Hainikoye (2011)
• Abdoulaye Issoufou (2011)
• Amadou Marou (2012)
• Aissata Alhassane Sayo (2012)

Adama Sadio

holds Masters degrees in Sociology and Political Science from Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar and is currently completing a doctorate in Political Science at the University of Rouen, France. He is the editor of reports by the electoral observation mission for the Réseau Sénégalais des Observateurs Citoyens (RESOCIT), on the July 2012 parliamentary elections and the February-March 2012 presidential election in Senegal. He is also a co-author of the report on rights and duties of citizens in the electoral process in Senegal by ENDA DIAPOL. Sadio serves as coordinator of the Réseau Africain des Jeunes Chercheurs (RAJEC).

TSEP country team for Senegal

• Fanta Diallo (2012)
• Marie Pierre Diop (2012)
• Alpha Faye (2011)