The IMSISS Consortium, including the School of Social and Political Sciences (University of Glasgow), the School of Law and Government (Dublin City University) and the Department of Security Studies (Charles University in Prague) are very sorry to hear of the death of Mo (Mohamed) Dabo, who was a student on the International Masters in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies (IMSISS). Our sadness is shared by colleagues and students across the programme, including associated partners.

Mo was from Sierra Leone and was the first student from there to study on the IMSISS programme. He was due to graduate from the degree this summer (2020) and since returning home earlier this year had been working for the Sierra Leone government in the Disaster Management Department, advising members of parliament on the establishment of a National Disaster Management Agency. He had most recently been working on the national response to COVID19, building on his knowledge of the national response to the previous Ebola outbreak, which had been the subject matter of his degree dissertation.

Mo listed his interests as African Security, Energy Security, Migration, Public Health Emergency, ICTs, Disaster Risk Management and Security Sector Reform. These clearly informed his engagement with his studies and the opportunities he pursued as part of his degree. His account of his time at the 2018 Geneva Summer School on Global and Regional Migration Governance can be read at the IMSISS website. During the summer of 2019 Mo attended events at Chatham House, about which he was interviewed, and in autumn also participated in the first AU-EU African Students and Alumni Forum in Ghana.

During his final year, Mo also visited New York City as part of his studies to intern with the United Nations’ Office for Information and Communication Technology, which was important to his concerns to improve security in Africa as he believed that “technology will play a great role in liberating Africa and empowering youth”. Going the UN and attending the General Assembly were considered by Mo to be among his lifetime achievements. His work there included contributing to Sierra Leone’s mission at the Assembly, as well as working on the UN’s Reboot the Earth campaign, and learning about supply chain for peacekeepers in Africa. Omar Mohsine, his supervisor at the UN, wrote that “We are very saddened by his sudden passing. He was so full of life, such an amazing spirit. We will deeply missed him and his contagiously good mood and smiles. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and loved ones. We are very thankful that we had the opportunity to work with Mo and meet him.” At he end of his internship in New York, Mo also met the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, which he described as a “golden opportunity” and a photo of which he pinned on his Twitter feed.

Mo will be remembered by his teachers and student peers as an individual who was enthusiastic and unabashedly friendly, with genuine ambition to return home and play a role supporting the future development of Sierra Leone. It is with great sadness that he will be unable to continue with that ambition, but hopefully he will become an inspiration to others who will follow in his footsteps. 

We wish to pass on our condolences to Mo’s family and friends.

Dr Eamonn Butler McIntosh (University of Glasgow) 
Dr James Fitzgerald (DCU)
Dr Vít Střítecký (Charles University)