January 30, 2017
Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia
Chad's Moussa Faki Mahamat elected new African Union Chair
Chadian foreign minister Moussa Faki Mahamat (photo above) has been elected the African Union Commission chair in a close race.
African heads of states gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to elect a new chairman.
Five candidates contended for the position to replace outgoing leader Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, the first female to lead the bloc of 54 states, who is not seeking a second term in office after completing her four-year stint.
The contenders were: Kenya’s Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed, Abdoulaye Bathily, a Senegalese diplomat and academic, Chad’s Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat, Botswana’s Foreign Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, and Mba Mokuy, a former political adviser from the ex-Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea.
The AU was supposed to pick a new leader in July last year but the election was postponed following three rounds of voting after candidates failed to garner the required number of votes. A candidate needs to secure at least a two-thirds majority, 36 votes, to be declared winner.
More than 50 percent of the member states abstained from the second round of voting last year.
Who is Moussa Faki Mahmat:
Moussa Faki Mahamat was born on June 21, 1960 in the town of Biltine in eastern Chad. He was the Prime Minister of Chad from June 24, 2003 until February 4, 2005, and is a member of the Patriotic Salvation Movement. He was President of the Economic, Social, and Cultural Council from 2007 to 2008, and since April 2008 he has been Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He attended university in Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo, where he studied law. He went into exile when Hissein Habré took power on June 7, 1982 and joined the Democratic Revolutionary Council headed by Acheikh Ibn Oumar; however, he did not return to Chad when Acheikh joined with Habré in 1988. He eventually returned on June 7, 1991, after Déby took power.
He was director-general of two ministries before serving as the Director-General of the National Sugar Society (SONASUT) between 1996 and 1999. He served as Director of President Déby's Cabinet from March 1999 to July 2002, and he was the director of Déby's campaign in the May 2001 presidential election.
Source:
Chad's Moussa Faki Mahamat elected new African Union Chair - African Spotlight
