http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/01/31/au-extends-ping-mandate-after-election-deadlock/AU
Extends Ping Mandate After Election Deadlock
Posted Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 7:30 am
The African Union has extended the mandate of its top official, Jean Ping,
after an election for the post ended in deadlock.
Ping, the incumbent chairman of the AU Commission, the bloc's executive
arm, did not win enough votes to defeat a challenge by a South African
official in four rounds of voting by AU leaders Monday.
Benin's President Boni Yayi, who holds the rotating AU presidency, later
said AU leaders have decided to prolong the mandate by Ping and the entire
AU Commission until June, when the AU holds its next summit in Malawi.
Monday's voting took place as the AU wrapped up a two-day summit in
Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
Ping, who is from Gabon, has been criticized for the AU's handling of
crises in Libya and Ivory Coast, and diplomats said his failure to win
re-election was a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
Analysts say the election also exposed divisions between French and
English-speaking countries in Africa, and differences between big countries
and small ones.
South Africa has indicated that its candidate, veteran anti-apartheid
activist Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, will run again for the AU Commission
chairmanship in June.
http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/au-french-interference-cost-ping-his-job-1.1224004
AU: French interference cost Ping his job
January 31 2012 at 11:09am
By Independent Foreign Service
------------------------------
[image: Copy of MDF93293 [2]]
REUTERS
African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping
Addis Ababa: It was French interference in the election of the African
Union Commission chairperson which cost the incumbent, former Gabonese
foreign minister Jean Ping, his job.
Asked about foreign interference, Mozambican Foreign Minister Oldemiro
Baloi declined to mention France by name, but told reporters that it was
indeed outside pressure that angered enough African leaders to deprive Ping
of the necessary two thirds majority. Ping faced a challenge from South
African Home Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, backed by SADC
(Southern African Development Community).
After three rounds of voting, Ping maintained a narrow lead – but nowhere
near two thirds of the 53 AU member states entitled to vote. Under the
rules, Dlamini-Zuma was obliged to withdraw after the third round, and on
the fourth round the only name on the ballot paper was Ping’s.
Even so, he only received 33 votes – which means that 20 countries refused
to vote for him. A two thirds majority would have been 36 votes.
Under normal circumstances, with just one candidate left, the heads of
state and government would have united around him. This was not possible,
Baloi said, “because we felt this was not just a discussion between
Africans – and that is why Ping did not win on the fourth round”.
According to both Mozambican and South African sources, the French
ambassador to Ethiopia was actively lobbying for Jean Ping. “I cannot
mention the name of the country”, said Baloi, “but there was outside
interference, not only in the election, but also in some of the dossiers
under discussion, such as the question of Madagascar”.
Such interference was nothing new he added, and there was growing concern
about it among African leaders.
The dilemma caused by the failure to elect a chairperson was temporarily
solved by extending for a further six months the terms of office of the
existing Commission members – even though this seems a clear breach of the
AU’s own rules.
The decision was taken during a marathon closed door session which began on
Monday morning and did not end until 1am local time on Tuesday.
Baloi said the alternative to prolonging the mandate of the current
commission until the next summit, due to be held in Malawi in June or July,
would have been to allow a vacuum, with all the implications that would
have had for the continental body.
Under the AU statutes, the Deputy Chairperson should have been appointed
interim chair until the next summit. But the deputy, Erastus Mwencha of
Kenya, who was standing for a second term, also needed a two thirds
majority.
Worse still, in the eyes of the summit, was that pressing ahead with the
election of the Deputy Chair and the other eight commissioners, in the
absence of a chairperson, risked upsetting the delicate gender and regional
balance on the Commission (each of the AU’s five regions – South, Central,
East, West and North – is supposed to have two seats on the Commission).
So all the remaining elections were postponed by six months. The summit
also appointed a committee of 13 heads of state, charged with revising the
AU’s electoral rules, so that no such embarrassment can happen in the
future. This Committee consists of two heads of state or government from
each of the five regions (who have yet to be appointed), the presidents of
South Africa and Gabon, Jacob Zuma and Ali Bongo Ondimba, as the countries
that presented the two candidates, and AU chairperson Boni Yayi of Benin.
Baloi admitted that there is a risk that the unelected commission will face
“a lack of authority”.
This, however, seemed the lesser of two evils. “We don’t want the AU to
come to a stop”, he stressed. - Independent Foreign Service
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Received on Tue Jan 31 2012 - 10:52:56 EST
