confidentially speaking
The Africa Confidential Blog
Dlamini-Zuma's busy swan song at AU
Blue Lines
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's
extended swan song as chairwoman of the African Union Commission has
been more productive than the rest her of four-year term. Dlamini-Zuma
doesn’t want a second term and will return home to South Africa. There, she’s likely to
make a run for the presidency, a position currently occupied by her
ex-husband Jacob Zuma.
Dlamini-Zuma initially struggled with the AU bureaucracy and
diplomatic
in-fighting, but now she has some important achievements to her name.
In January, the AU launched its Rapid Reaction Force and at the AU
summit this week, Dlamini-Zuma presided over the decision to send a
3,000-strong force to South Sudan
to protect civilians. She has also
made progress on her pledge to reduce the AU's dependence on Asian and
European financial support: the 54 member states agreed to levy a 0.2%
tax on specific imports which should raise about US$1.2 billion a year.
But one major piece of business was unfinished: the election of her
successor. There was little enthusiasm for the three candidates in the
frame: Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi
and Agapito Mba Mokuy, foreign
ministers
respectively of Botswana and Equatorial Guinea, and former
Vice-President of Uganda, Specioza Kazibwe. Now the talk is of
another
three: Tanzania's former
President Jakaya Kikwete, Algeria's Foreign
Minister Ramtane Lamamra, and Senegal's Abdoulaye Bathily, currently UN
Representative for Central Africa.
