Martin Ewi picked a good day to oversleep.

It didn’t seem so at the time. Having missed the 8 a.m. train into New York City, he was worried about being late for a meeting of African ambassadors at the United Nations headquarters, for which he’d been assigned to take notes. There would certainly be no time to buy his favorite muffin at the World Trade Center, where he changed trains.

It was Sept. 11, 2001. As the 9 a.m. train left Newark, New Jersey, smoke was rising from the World Trade Center. Ewi and other passengers were told that a plane had accidentally hit one tower. From their windows they saw a second hijacked plane slam into its target. The train stopped short of its destination.

Terrorism came within three minutes of possibly ending Ewi’s life. It also has influenced the trajectory of his career. The dramatic attacks led to increased international attention to terrorism, which resulted in a job offer for the 2001 graduate of the Kroc Institute peace studies program. Ewi is now an anti-terrorism analyst in the African Union’s Peace and Security Directorate.

“Terrorism was something I always thought was very distant from me,” said Ewi, a native of Cameroon. “What I learned from those traumatic bombings of the Twin Towers was that the collateral effects of terrorism are far more than what we think, and that everybody is a potential victim of terrorism.”

Ewi reflected on his career in Jinja, Uganda, when some African alumni gathered after the institute’s April conference there. The event, focusing on the role of religion in African conflict and peacebuilding, pleased Ewi immensely. It was organized by his former Kroc classmate, Rashied Omar.

Omar, a Kroc Institute staff member, teased Ewi: “You are a big man now.”

At age 29, Ewi is certainly well-placed to watch history up close and, through policy recommendations, influence the future of his home continent. Based in the Conflict Management Centre of the Peace and Security Directorate, he works at the African Union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ewi primed himself for such a career. As an undergraduate at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, he studied the Organization of African States, which stood by as citizens of its member states died in civil wars and even genocide. The post-colonial OAS was replaced in 1999 by the African Union. The new union is committed to intervene if necessary in the internal affairs of members.

In fall of 2001, Ewi was on a Kroc Institute-funded internship with the African Union in New York. His assignment was to follow the proceedings of the UN Security Council that dealt with African conflict. After 16 months in New York, he returned to Africa to work for the AU.

The Kroc Institute master’s program was very helpful in preparing him for his job, he said. Courses in humanitarian law, theories of international relations, human rights and conflict resolution — while not dealing specifically with terrorism — addressed the human dimensions of security.

“By having people like me in the field, we have been able to emphasize unconventional methods for combating terrorism, such as the need to address social factors that lead to terrorism,” he said. “Our goal has been to go beyond the traditional security and military approach to understanding the issue and to addressing the root causes.’’

Ewi’s job is challenging. While Africa has a history of terrorism, he said, dealing with it has never been considered a priority there.

“Also, dealing with 53 countries that are very diverse makes it even more difficult to achieve common policy objectives,” he said. “This demands a lot of patience and diplomacy — which is an art I learn every day.”

— Julie Titone

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