* Dlamini-Zuma is diplomat, doctor, President Zuma’s ex-wife
* Bruising contest between candidates from Gabon, S. Africa
* Deadlock had prompted warning of divided African Union
(Updates with quotes, details, background)
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, July 15 (Reuters) – South African Home Affairs
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was elected on 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 organisation.
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 organisation’s executive arm, she faces
immediate challenges as the AU tries to gain U.N. Security
Council backing for a military intervention in northern Mali,
where local and foreign al Qaeda-linked jihadists seized control
after a destabilising coup in the southern capital Bamako.
Continued…
