Biography of Ambassador Sekou Berthe
His Excellency Sekou Berthe is currently the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Mali to the United States of America since June 2022. Prior to this assignment, he was the Special Counsel to the President of the Transition of Mali Republic from October 2021 to his current appointment, Counseling and assisting the President on specific issues.
However, he spent a large amount of his career as academic, lecturing at the University of Law and Political Sciences in Bamako. As Associate Professor, he has taught international law, international relations, and constitutional law. He has also assisted students for research and memoir writing. In addition, Professor Berthe was one of the editors of faculty law bulletin.
Ambassador Berthe began his professional career at the representation of Amnesty International in Bamako, promoting education on human rights and advocating for worldwide protection of human rights’ activists. Later he worked as Law Clerk at Lagdaf Law Firm in Bamako. During his stay in New York, he worked as Court interpreter at Manhattan Family Court and later as Law Enforcement Agent at New York City Sanitation Department.
Ambassador Berthe has been very active in many civil society organizations in Mali. Among other he was the Chairperson of Malian Association” Movement for Youth Rights “(1997), Delegate of the Malian Constitutional Court for supervising general elections (1995), Delegate of the Malian Association of Human Rights to discuss custody policy and to improve the conditions of detained prisoners (1997). He is also a member of Penal Reform International (PRI), a nonprofit organization based in London campaigning to promote the implementation of international human rights instruments with regard to law enforcement, prison conditions and standards and develop models as alternatives to imprisonment. He made several publications mainly on law and international affairs.
Ambassador Berthe is a graduate of the National School of Administration (University of Mali) in Law, June 1995. He holds a Master of Art degree in International Relations from City College of New York. He did a PhD in International Relations at the University of Ghana, Legon. He fluently speaks French, English and Mandingo.
