ADDIS ABABA: African leaders were divided yesterday over a historic vote that saw the first woman elected to head the AU Commission, with some hailing the decision as others criticized powerhouse South Africa's tactics.
Many participants in the African Union summit appeared relieved that the six-month impasse over the continental body's top job had finally been broken Sunday night when South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma won a tightly fought vote to become the new AU Commission head.
"What I can say is well done to Africa," Tomaz Salomao, secretary general of the Southern African Development Community, told AFP.
Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's home affairs minister, beat the incumbent, Jean Ping of Gabon, in a close election.
Kenya, which voted for Ping, conceded that the breaking of the deadlock was good for the continent, with Richard Onyonka, an assistant foreign affairs minister, calling the vote "a kind of victory for Africa because we have moved forward."
But he said he disapproved of the bulldozing tactics employed by South Africa.
"For us, it's more like a bitter-sweet victory," he said. "I believe this election has brought sharp divisions within the AU and it was not necessary.
"I'm very uncomfortable with the methods and style of South Africa. They were entitled to bring a candidate... but we felt that there was too much intimidation, arm-twisting and threats," Onyonka complained.
Erastus Mwencha of Kenya, the sitting AU deputy chair, was voted in for another term.
Another delegate, who did not want to be identified, accused South Africa, home to the continent's largest economy, of buying votes.
Dlamini-Zuma, 63, is a veteran of the fight against apartheid. A doctor by training, she has also served as health and foreign minister.
Voting took place at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Dlamini-Zuma's win follows her challenge six months ago to unseat Ping, which ended in deadlock after neither won the required two-thirds of the vote, leaving Ping in the post.
Officials said the election went to four rounds of voting before Dlamini-Zuma won 37 votes, three more than the required majority, to confirm her win over Ping.
The vote raised tensions between Africa's French- and English-speaking countries. South Africa also drew accusations of violating an unwritten rule that the AU top job should go to a candidate from one of the continent's smaller countries.
Red Cross starts aid effort in northern Mali
The Red Cross says it has started an aid operation to bring emergency food supplies to some 160,000 people in northern Mali affected by drought and fighting between radical Islamists, rebels and the government.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday "people in the north are no longer able to meet their basic food needs" following a poor 2011 crop season and the political conflict.
It says it will hand out rice, semolina and beans to the most vulnerable, and seeds will be distributed to some 40,000 farmers to boost food production.
After a coup ousted Mali's government in March, Tuareg rebels took control of the north but have been driven out by rebels. An estimated 300,000 people have fled the region.
The US released $10 million to assist the refugees last week.
