The heavily contested battle to chair the African Union Commission has been won by Chad’s Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Moussa Faki. The 56-year-old beat two strong women contenders to replace South African-born Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the first woman to lead the continental organisation. The Chadian was voted for at a summit of the 54-nation body in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Faki beat four other candidates to the post. Among them Amina Mohamed, Kenya’s foreign minister who has had a diplomatic career of over three decades, Abdoulaye Bathily, Senegalese diplomat and politician, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Equatorial Guinea’s Mba Mokuy, the third contender that is a foreign minister and the youngest contestant.
Faki’s main rival in the last round of voting at summit was Mohamed.
