---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 7:55 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] AU chooses Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma To: Group <[email protected]>
AU chooses Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as leader BBC 15 July 2012 Last updated at 21:43 GMT The African Union has chosen South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its leader, making her the first woman to hold the post. Ms Dlamini-Zuma beat incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon after a closely fought contest for the chairmanship of the organisation. In January, neither got the required two-thirds majority, leaving Mr Ping in office for another six months. The dispute has overshadowed other issues, especially security and trade. Voting had been broadly split along linguistic lines, with English-speaking countries tending to support Ms Dlamini-Zuma and French-speaking countries lining up behind Mr Ping. Senior officials had warned that failure to resolve the leadership deadlock would divide the AU and undermine its credibility. Long-serving minister Ms Dlamini-Zuma, the former wife of South African President Jacob Zuma, won the leadership of the AU commission in a third round of voting. She got 37 votes at the 54-member body, giving her the 60% majority she needed to be elected. The 63-year-old is currently South Africa's home affairs minister, and has also had spells as minister of health and of foreign affairs. She is one of her country's longest-serving ministers. But critics said her candidacy had broken an unwritten tradition that the chairmanship should not be occupied by one of Africa's major nations. Earlier this week, Mr Ping denied a South African media report speculating he was going to withdraw from the race. His use of the AU's website and letterhead for his statement prompted the southern African regional bloc Sadc to accuse him of misusing AU resources for his re-election bid. Ms Dlamini-Zuma's election came at a summit in Addis Ababa, the organisation's home city. As in January, the official theme of the summit was boosting intra-African trade. It is also due to focus on the continuing instability in Mali, mounting violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and tension between Sudan and South Sudan. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18846210 END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 050 1235 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en-US.
