AU Fails To Elect New Leader

The African Union (AU) on Monday July 18 at its 27th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government meeting, being held in the Rwanda, failed to elect a new leader to head the body.

None of the three candidates was able to get the required two-thirds majority of votes.

The three candidates that contested were Uganda's former Vice-President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, Botswana’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi and Equatorial Guinea’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Agapito Mba Mokuy.

The failure of the meeting to elect a new leader for the regional body means the current AU President Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will continue until a new president is elected in January.

The AU meeting kicked off on 17 July 2016 at the Kigali Convention Centre (KCC), with a call for unity and love for the continent. The opening ceremony was marked by a symbolic act of Pan-Africanism with the launch of the African Union (AU) passport aimed at facilitating free movement of people on the continent.