http://www.theafricareport.com/index.php/north-africa/discord-signed-au-50181120.html

Discord - signed AU
By Written by Anne Kappès-Grangé and translated by Olivier Milland

While reunited in Addis Ababa the Heads of State and government of the
continent spewed their differences on the table. After having failed
to get Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma elected, as chairperson of the African
Union Commission, Pretoria blocked the re-election of Jean Ping,
fearing that the organisation would be weakened. Differences among
member states highlight a deepening fissure ahead of another voting
round in Lilongwe, Malawi‬ in June this year.

altIn an office on the first floor of the new AU headquarters in Addis
Ababa Jean Ping awaits. A comfortable armchair stands on a thick
carpet, but not much is going well these days. Some minutes before, on
January 30th, he failed at getting reelected by the Heads of state and
government at the 18th AU summit. This would have allowed him to
remain another four years at the top of the AU Commission.

The day before, his country – Gabon – was multiplying last minute
meetings in order to get him re-elected. His partisans knew that it
would be a tight race, but "nobody thought that everything would go
wrong", one of them admits.

First round of the vote, a secret ballot behind locked doors, ended
with 28 votes in Ping's favour an and 25 for the South African,
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma; Jacob Zuma's former spouse and former Minister
of Foreign Affairs, and presently in charge. Neither one of them was
present in the plenary since it is impeded by regulation. Neither one
of them had obtained the required majority. The same thing happened in
the second round – 29 against 24. At this point Dlamini-Zuma should,
according to AU regulation, retire. However, that does not mean that
Ping is out on the dry. He still needs the qualified majority of 36
votes (two thirds).

The ambiance in the room was tense. Some voices demanded a suspension
of the session. South Africa opposed this. Boni Yayi, the newly
elected President of the AU, did not insist further. In the fourth
round, Ping only gets 32 votes. More than one third of member states
have preferred not to re-elect him and risk an institutional status
quo. A huge setback in other words.

United behind South Africa, the fifteen member states of the South
African Development Cooperation (Sadc) constituted a block and managed
to get the support from half a dozen countries outside the block. In
West Africa, eyes are directed at Gambia, who everybody knows is in
debt to Zuma for supporting Fatu Bensouda's candidacy as Attorney
General at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

But eyes are also turned towards Guinea-Bissao and Cape Verde,
traditionally close to Angola, which supports Pretoria. And what about
the Mauritanian vote, whose president has been working hand-in-hand
with Zuma on the Ivorian case? Speculations are now spreading and Jean
Ping denounces a coup.

Payback will come the day South Africa needs our support to get a
permanent seat in the UN Security Council

A couple of feet away, in the big AU entrance hall, the South African
delegation gloats with joy. Dlamini-Zuma and her followers give a hint
of dancing moves and exclaim that "it is a victory for South Africa".
"Even though we haven't been elected we managed to block Ping's
re-election", one of them rejoices. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister
of Foreign Affairs, affirms to journalists that "the incumbent AUC
president has not been reelected, which proves that African leaders
hunger for change".

Nkoana-Mashabane is going too fast. First of all "she hasn't managed
to convince anyone outside her traditional zone of influence, which is
a set-back for South African diplomacy, considering its economic
power", one civil servant analyses. Furthermore, the obtained
compromise that was found thanks to the pressure put by Ethiopian
Meles Zenawi, means that Ping will hold office until the next AU
Summit at the end of June in Lilongwe, Malawi.

In the mean time, a committee has been put together, where five Heads
of State and government (one for each sub-region), the incumbent AU
President Boni Yayi and the Gabonese and South African presidents will
meet in March to determine the rules of voting and if the two
candidates are allowed to run for office again. The question is if
they will settle with a simple majority vote in order to avoid another
fiasco.

So what now?

"If the Sadc wishes to, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma will stand candidate
for the next election again", the head of South African diplomacy
says. What about Jean Ping? "The decision is his to make", his
entourage admits, "but he doesn't want to take it personally. If we
ask him to run for office again, he will do so. Otherwise he will turn
the page with no regret. In the opposition, they nevertheless stress
that "he'd better refrain", in the words of a Dlamini-Zuma advocate.
"The message to him is clear: things need to change. There has been
too much foreign interference."

The assumption that France would be supporting the Gabonese candidate
is barely secret. "That's not true", was the response given in the AU
corridors, hours before the vote.

"Moreover, Ping opposed the military NATO intervention in Libya, which
was advocated by President Sarkozy." The thing is, however, that André
Parant, Africa counselor of the French government, traveled to Addis
Ababa last October to meet for an at length tête-à-tête with Ping
."That doesn't mean anything", Dlamini-Zuma pundits retort. But the
doubt has been instilled.

South Africa has campaigned aggressively until the end. As for Jacob
Zuma, he was asked, on several occasions, to remove Dlamini's
candidacy "in the name of African unity". Beninese president Boni
Yayi, and the Congolese Denis Sassou Nguesso, met with him on the 28th
of January without managing to get him to change his mind.

The former heads of state of Burundi and Nigeria – Pierre Buyoya and
Olusegun Obasanjo, had the same bad luck. A high-level West African
diplomat declared: "it's too late. Zuma has supposedly lost face.
Besides, Dlamini-Zuma is very powerful at home. She fought apartheid.
She has been in government since Mandela's presidency and she's a
heavyweight within the ANC. Zuma could not allow himself to retreat
only a few months before the ANC elections. Plus he doesn't have any
interest in keeping her close to him."

Has Gabon been as successful in its campaign? Not sure. One AU Summit
regular said that "four years ago Bongo Senior wanted to get his
candidate elected and he brought the artillery for it. This year with
Ali Bongo Odimba, things have been different. Not because he didn't
want Ping, but because he started campaigning too late and he was
taking the victory for granted. The result is that Africa is divided".

Our regular is visibly annoyed. "We have just wasted six months, under
which we will only dash off ordinary affairs. It isn't a great day for
the AU."

The rare times that Heads of State have chosen to speak, they have
sought to downplay divisions. Michael Sata protested that "elections
always divide people." Ivory Coast President, Alassane Dramane
Ouattara adds: "there are no winners or losers."

One civil servant at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa states that
"in the end I don't understand what all the complaints are about. It
isn't because Ping was the incumbent candidate that we should roll out
the red carpet. What counts are the results he's obtained".

His results have been bitterly criticised by his opponents who
underline his lack of firmness in 2011, especially in the Libyan
crisis. "In this case, it is true: Africa has lost control since most
did not support an intervention against Gaddafi. This has sparked off
serious bitterness," one Central African observer adds. One of Ping's
collaborators states that "it's not fair concerning the security
issues.

They blame him for not opposing to the military intervention, but at
the same time Gabon and Nigeria voted for the adoption of the 1973
Security Council of the UN resolution!" Another one insists, saying
that "it is because he wants to be forgiven for voting with the
Western world that Zuma is trying to name a scapegoat.

Even more, that very same Zuma later goes on to ask France and Europe
for a seat in the UN. That's not how you're supposed to do it. By
choosing Ping the Heads of State wanted an executer and he has done
what was asked of him."

For this first post-Gaddafi summit, four voting rounds will have been
enough to uncover not only the deep divisions between French-speaking
and English-speaking countries, but also the fissure between West
African and Southern African countries. Abidjan, Ougadougou and Abuja
having had a bitter experience with the way Southern African countries
handled the Ivorian crisis. And this year they have already shown
their dissatisfaction at how continental ambitions have been
scattered.

A former francophone minister, speaking on condition of anonymity,
complains that "Zuma already knew about the non-written rule that no
big country would be at the head of the commission, but he's refused
to listen. Payback will come the day that Zuma needs our support for
getting a permanent seat in the UN Security Council!"

‪In the meantime, more confusion could be brewing at the AU summit
planned for Lilongwe, Malawi‬ in June, 2012.



-- 
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M

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