Karamba Diaby | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theBundestag | |
| In office 2013–2025 | |
| Constituency | Halle |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1961-11-27)27 November 1961 (age 64) |
| Party |  German:Social Democratic Party  EU:Party of European Socialists |
| Alma mater | Cheikh Anta Diop University Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg[1] |
Karamba Diaby (born 27 November 1961[2]) is aSenegalese-born German chemist and politician of theSocial Democratic Party who has been serving as a member of theBundestag from the2013 elections to2025 elections.
Diaby grew up inMarsassoum,Senegal. The youngest of four children, he was raised by his sister after losing both of his parents by the time he was 7.[3] A graduate of theCheikh Anta Diop University, he left Senegal to study chemistry inEast Germany and received his diploma in 1991. In 1996 he received his Doctor of Natural Science degree,[1] and stayed after thereunification of Germany, after which he became more involved in political and social activism.
On September 22, 2013, Diaby was elected to theBundestag as aSocial Democratic Party candidate fromHalle (Saale),Saxony-Anhalt; Diaby became one of the first twoBundestag members of African ancestry, alongsideCharles M. Huber (born to a Senegalese father and German mother), who was elected at the same time from theChristian Democratic Union.[4]
Diaby currently serves as deputy chairman of theCommittee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid and as full member of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment. On the latter, he is his parliamentary group’srapporteur on matters related to theAcademy of Sciences Leopoldina, theAlexander von Humboldt Foundation and the recognition of your foreign qualifications. Within his parliamentary group, he is a member of the working group on municipal policy. He also belongs to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement.[5]
Diaby's office in Halle was shot at on 15 January 2020.[6] The attack was condemned byHeiko Maas, Germany'sForeign Minister, as "disgusting and cowardly".[7]
In addition to his committee assignments, Diaby is the deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the Francophone States of West and Central Africa (Equatorial Guinea,Benin,Burkina Faso,Côte d’Ivoire,Gabon,Guinea,Cameroon,Republic of the Congo,Mali,Niger,Senegal,Togo,Chad,Central African Republic).
Since 2019, he has been a member of the German delegation to theFranco-German Parliamentary Assembly.[8] He is also part of theElie Wiesel Network of Parliamentarians for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and against Genocide Denial.[9] In 2020, he co-founded a cross-party working group on diversity andantiracism.[10]
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In the negotiations to form afourth coalition government underChancellorAngela Merkel following the2017 federal elections, Diaby was part of the working group on migration policy, led byVolker Bouffier,Joachim Herrmann andRalf Stegner.
In the2021 German federal election, he won a direct mandate in theconstituency ofHalle.
In the2021 election of the German federal parliament, Karamba Diaby won for the first time directly his constituency ofHalle. With 28.8 percent of the votes in the first round, Diaby beat Christoph Bernstiel, who received 20.7 percent of the votes also during the first round.[11]
In the 20thGerman Bundestag, he is a full member of the Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development and of the Committee for Foreign Affairs. He also has a membership in the Subcommittee on Global Health and in the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly. The parliamentary group on West Africa is chaired by him and in the Subcommittee on International Climate and Energy Policy he is a substitute member.[12]
Diaby has been subject to racist abuse and death threats and announced in 2024 that he would not be seeking re-election in the 2025 federal election.[13]
In 2018, Diaby joined other black elected representatives and community leaders from across Europe in signing anopen letter inThe Guardian in support ofBlack Italian politicianCécile Kyenge. Kyenge had been sued fordefamation for calling the ItalianLeague party racist.[14]
Media related toKaramba Diaby at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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