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Name: Sefue, Ombeni
Current Position: Ambassador
Ombeni Y. Sefue began his work as Tanzania’s Ambassador to the US on June 15, 2007. Sefue studied public policy and administration at what is today Mzumbe University, and later earned an MA (with distinction) in the same field at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at The Hague, The Netherlands, in 1981. He also holds a post-graduate diploma in international relations and diplomacy from the Tanzania-Mozambique Center for Foreign Relations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and has certificates in international negotiations, and in economic and social problems of developing countries.
Sefue served as counselor at the Embassy of Tanzania in Stockholm, Sweden, from 1987 to 1992. The embassy had multiple accreditations to Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland. He left the Foreign Service in 1993 to serve as speechwriter and personal assistant to then-President Ali Hassan Mwinyi.
Following general elections in 1995, the new president, Benjamin William Mkapa, retained Sefue as his speechwriter and personal assistant with added responsibilities until 2005 when the president’s term came to an end. During this time, Sefue worked with Hernando de Soto’s Institute for Liberty and Democracy to establish a Property and Business Formalization Program for Tanzania. He was also worked with the Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS Initiative to develop an HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment Plan for Tanzania, as well as the Mkapa National HIV/AIDS Fellows Program.
Before his current assignment, he served as his country’s high commissioner (ambassador) to Canada from October 2005 to June 2007.