That Le Drian's message was not getting through was plain at the airport where only the foreign minister Charles Armel Doubane came to greet him...
Other candidates included two former ministers who campaigned hard: Charles Armel Doubane and Abdou Karim Meckassoua...
When the AU Deputy Representative in charge of mediation Mali's former Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga enquired about the score of other candidates including Meckassoua and the former Ambassador to the UN Charles-Armel Doubane Samba-Panza brushed the question aside saying the decision had been made...
