Cameroon Ambassador is 2014 Best African Diplomat in the UK

Cameroon High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Nkwelle Ekaney has won the 2014 Diplomat of the Year from Africa award. The laureate joined 10 others to receive his award recently during DIPLOMAT magazine’s 2014 annual Awards Ceremony held in London.

The ceremony was attended by Ambassadors and High Commissioners from over 70 countries and diplomats from over 100 countries. In its sixth year, the awards ceremony recognised the outstanding work and achievements of London’s diplomatic community, who are trying to better their nations’ well-being.

The magazine said it identified 10 categories that recognise different levels of diplomacy, and winners were nominated by their peers. The categories included 2014 Diplomat of the Year from the Middle East, 2014 Diplomat of the Year from Africa, 2014 Diplomat of the Year from Asia, 2014 Diplomat of the year from Europe, 2014 Diplomat of the Year from the Americas, 2014 Outstanding Contribution to Women in Diplomacy among others.

DIPLOMAT said with over 160 diplomatic missions, a posting to London remains one of the ambitions and highlight of any diplomat’s career. And as for Cameroon’s Ekaney, he is thrilled to be in London because it is ‘the world’s international economic capital', and also due to Cameroon's long-standing links with the UK, in place since 1960.

The Cameroon High Commissioner to the UK first arrived in London on October 3, 2008. He recalled that, ‘the minutes I had with the Queen, were some of the happiest moments in my life.' Ekaney’s first diplomatic posting was in the Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, where he worked his way through the ranks from 1977 to 1986.

The diplomat studied journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. After that he pursued a BA in Political Science and an MA in International Affairs. His wife, Janet Mejane Nzounkwelle, joined him in Canada in 1973 and they were married a year later. They have three daughters living in Cameroon and the U.S.