July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - Web posted at 6:49:37 AM GMT

Ex-Ivorian foreign minister voted OAU head

LUSAKA - Former Ivorian Foreign Minister Amara Essy was elected on Monday as interim executive head of the Organisation of African Unity, which is being transformed into the African Union.

Delegates at the last OAU summit in Zambia's capital said Essy emerged as winner after Namibia's Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab, with whom he had been tied after several rounds of voting, withdrew.

A third candidate, Guinean diplomat Lansana Kouyate, current Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States, had withdrawn earlier after scoring low in the first two rounds.

Essy and Gurirab had been deadlocked at 30 votes to 18 during repeated rounds of voting as the winner was required to poll two-thirds of votes cast.

"It is done. Essy has been elected," a delegate told reporters after heads of state reconvened from a recess for consultations.

Essy was the favoured candidate of the Francophone lobby in the pan-African organisation. The Namibian was backed strongly by South Africa and other southern African states.

The veteran Ivorian diplomat, who was the West African country's foreign minister for more than a decade, will lead the OAU in its transition to the new, stronger African Union.

Conference sources said his election also ended controversy and tension over a Libyan move to have current OAU Secretary-General Salim Amed Salim continue in office during the transition period, expected to last between one and two years.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is the leading promoter of the concept of a United States of Africa to spearhead the economic revival and closer integration of the world's poorest continent.

The election was the main event on the opening day of the three-day summit, which is to formally adopt the AU treaty and decide on the location of its institutions, such as a parliament.

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