East Africa Community endorses foreign affairs CS Amina Mohammed for AU commission chair
Sunday November 13, 2016
photoj1The East African Community on Saturday endorsed Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed for the post of the chairperson of the African Union.
In a closed door meeting at a Nairobi hotel, all the East African Foreign Affairs ministers unanimously vowed to rally behind Mohammed in her ambitions to clinch the prestigious African job.
“The ministers also agreed to collectively campaign and lobby other countries for their support.” Uganda’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa said.
They have also directed the EAC secretariat to convey their decision to All African Regional Economic Communities with the aim of soliciting their backing.
The meeting was attended by ministers from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.
Mohammed said she will organise a press conference at a later date to provide reasons why her candidature is important for Kenya.
The elections to fill the post of AU Commission chairman will take place in January 2017 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the headquarters of the African Union.
The current AU Commission chairman is South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Deputy President William has been on a whirlwind tour of seven countries since Monday to campaign and drum up support for Mohammed.
He has been to Chad, Cote d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Algeria and Nigeria.
Mohammed achievements include being the first woman to lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kenya.
She was also elected President of UNCTAD 14 for the next 4 years, was the chairperson of the historic WTO 10th Ministerial Conference and co-chairperson of the Ministerial segment of the first TICAD Summit to held in Africa.