AU Commission: Four candidates vying to succeed Moussa Faki

The candidates vying to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat as head of the African Union Commission are now known. There are four candidates ready to take over from the Chadian, who will reach the end of his two mandates early next year. The four candidates come from the East of the continent, in line with the rotation between the different regions.

Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, and Mauritius put forward a candidate to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat. Four seasoned politicians from the continent, all men, who have held ministerial positions.

For Kenya, it’s a veteran of the country’s political scene who’s in the running, opposition politician and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, five-time unsuccessful presidential candidate.

The other three profiles are fairly similar. All have been at the head of diplomacy in their respective countries. Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, 58, a former minister from Djibouti, presents himself as the only candidate capable of uniting the continent’s different regions, highlighting his mastery of French, English and Arabic.

Opposite him are two candidates from the Indian Ocean islands. Richard Randjiamandjiaté of Madagascar, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was dismissed from the government in October 2022 after voting to condemn Russia’s annexation of Ukraine at the United Nations, and Anil Gayan of Mauritius, also a former minister, who only filed his candidacy last week.