AU elects its first woman leader

ADDIS ABABA — South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected Sunday to become the first female head of the African Union (AU) Commission, ending a bruising leadership battle that had threatened to divide and weaken the organization.

Cheers broke out at the AU’s soaring, Chinese-built steel and glass headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa as supporters of the ex-wife of South African President Jacob Zuma celebrated her victory over incumbent Jean Ping of Gabon.

“We made it!” a grinning Zimbabwean delegate shouted, reflecting the strong support Dlamini-Zuma’s candidacy had received from fellow members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Ping, who had served in the AU post since 2008, was largely supported by French-speaking African states.

The appointment of South Africa’s 63-year-old home affairs minister, who previously served as minister of health and foreign affairs, will add to the global diplomatic clout of an African state which is already the continent’s largest economy.

As head of the organization’s executive arm, she faces immediate challenges as the AU tries to gain UN Security Council backing for a military intervention in northern Mali, where local and foreign Al-Qaeda-linked militants seized control after a destabilizing coup in the southern capital Bamako.

The Mali crisis, along with an army putsch in Guinea-Bissau and border clashes in April between Sudan and South Sudan have blotted Africa’s advances in recent years towards better governance and stability, accompanied by buoyant growth.

Dlamini-Zuma had to undergo three voting rounds before Ping, 69, was eliminated. A final confidence vote of 37 in favor gave her the 60 percent majority she needed to be elected. — Reuters