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Addis Ababa – In one the biggest diplomatic coups for Zimbabwe in recent years, the country was on Thursday elected to be the chair of the African Union (AU) in 2015. This was by virtue of its election as first vice-president of the AU’s Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, the most powerful organ of the continental body, at the ongoing 22nd Summit of the AU here.
Zimbabwe will deputise Mauritania, which took over the chairmanship of the AU on Thursday from Ethiopia.
Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbegegwi said the election was a big diplomatic triumph for Zimbabwe, and a slap in the face of powerful Western countries seeking to isolate the country, especially among its peers in Africa.
The West, angered by Zimbabwe’s agrarian reforms in which rich farmland was taken from white farmers to resettle landless blacks, has been on a relentless campaign to punish the country, including imposing illegal sanctions.
But Zimbabwe has not only pressed ahead with the agrarian reforms, but also managed to build strong alliances in the AU and other regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to the chagrin of the West.
Minister Mumbegegwi said Thursday’s election of the country was a product of the alliances it had painstakingly formed over the years to better confront the West.
“This (the Bureau of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government) is the supreme body of the AU, and our election as first vice president of the Bureau means we are next in line to take over the chair of the AU itself,” he said.
“This represents one of the biggest success of our diplomacy, and a slap in the face of those who want us isolated,” he said.
Among its powerful functions, the Bureau determines the common policies of the entire AU, setting its priorities and adopting its annual programmes.
It also monitors implementation of AU policies and decisions by member states as well as being in charge of accelerating the political, social and economic integration of the continent.
But crucially, the Bureau is in charge of deciding whether or not to intervene in crisis situations in Africa, an issue that has become contentius in the wake of increasing uninvited military interventions on the continent by big Western powers.
The Bureau also appoints the AU Commission chairperson and other top officials of the body, as well as office bearers for its organs such as courts.
Zimbabwe’s election to the top post of the AU is probably the biggest diplomatic blow the West has suffered in its stand-off with the country.
It comes at a time the West is still desperately trying to convince the world that elections the country held last July were flawed, and therefore its government was illegitemate.
Both the AU and Sadc recognised the poll as free, credible and representing the sovereign will of the people of Zimbabwe, and have rewarded the country with headship of the two organisations.
Zimbabwe takes over chairmanship of Sadc this year, after being elected vice chair last August, barely a month after the July elections.
Other members of the Bureau are the Democratic Republic of Congo as second vice president and Nigeria as third vice president.
President Robert Mugabe is leading the Zimbabwe delegation to the 22nd Summit of the AU which opened on Thursday.
- New Ziana
Online Reporter