Guinean President Alpha Conde succeeds Derby as African Union Chair

02 Feb 2017
Financial Nigeria

Summary

Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat has succeeded South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as Chairperson of the African Union Commission.

Guinean President Alpha Conde

Guinean President Alpha Conde has succeeded Chadean President Idris Derby as the Chair of the African Union. Conde was elected by the Assembly of Heads of State on Monday, January 30 during the 28th African Union Summit, which held between January 22-31.

The seat, which is mainly ceremonial, rotates among the continent’s five regions – North, Central, East, West and Southern African. Conde becomes West Africa’s fourth AU chairperson after Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria (2004), John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana (2007) and Thomas Yayi Boni of Benin (2016).

Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat has also succeeded South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC). Mahamat defeated four other candidates, including Senegalese diplomat, Abdoulaye Bathily, who was the candidate of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Other candidates for the position of Africa’s top diplomat were Kenya’s Ambassador Amina Mohamed; Dr. Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Foreign Minister of Botswana; and Agapito Mba Mokuy, Foreign Minister of Equatorial Guinea.

Before his election as AUC’s Chairperson, Mahamat had been Foreign Minister of Chad since April 2008.

The AUC is the executive/administrative branch of the African Union. It is headed by the Chairperson, who works with a number of Commissioners dealing with different areas of policy. Nigeria’s Fatimah Mohammed, who contested for the position of AUC Commissioner for Peace and Security, was defeated by incumbent, Smail Chergui of Algeria.


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