The race for the African Union Commission top job has intensified and voting is slated Sunday.
As the African leaders also go for their 18th AU summit, South African president Jacob Zuma is lobbying for his Home affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for chairmanship of the AU commission.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is expected to compete with among others the Jean Ping, the incumbent chairman.
Zuma has met Congo Brazzaville President Denis Sassou-Nguesso and was due to meet the presidents of Chad and Guinea-Conakry.
Zuma also met Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on the sidelines of the AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Francophone countries are said to have resisted Dlamini-Zuma’s bid and are the main backers of Ping.
In the related development, Rwandan President Paul Kagame is due to address the African Union Summit on the subject of aid effectiveness at a time when the rich countries are faced with a debt crisis.
President Kagame also participated in the ceremony to inaugurate the newly built African Union Conference Centre (AUCC).
The ceremony was also attended by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, President of Equatorial Guinea and current Chairperson of the African Union, Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the People’s Political Consultative Conference of China, as well as representatives of the international community.
The ceremony was marked by the unveiling of the Kwame Nkrumah monument, the laying of the first stone of the AU memorial for Human Rights, and the handing over of the keys of the New conference Center by the Chinese authorities to the Chairperson of the AU.The Conference Center was a donation from China.
The new 113 meter-high block will be the venue for the African Union Heads of State and Government Summit that kicks off this Sunday.
The AU memorial for Human Rights that reads in part; “For all the victims of human rights abuses in Africa, including those of the slave trade and colonialism and particularly the Genocide in Rwanda, (1994)”, was unveiled by Presidents Kagame, Yayi Boni of Benin and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.
President Kagame also attended the 26th meeting of NEPAD’s Heads of State and Government Orientation Committee (HSGOC) chaired by Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and current Chairman of the HSGOC.
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