Djibouti’s Mahmoud Ali Youssouf from the Eastern Region will head the African Union Commission for a term of four years renewable once.
Youssouf won the bruising race against Kenya’s Raila Odinga in the seventh round.
He will be to be deputised by Algeria’s Ambassador to Addis Ababa and Permanent Representative to the African Union Selma Malika Haddadi from the Northern Region.
She succeeded Monique Nsanzabaganwa, the outgoing deputy chair and Rwanda’s former Minister of Trade and Industry, who was elected to the role in March 2021.
The two leaders were elected and sworn in at the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government that took place from 15 to 16 February 2025. Both elected officials garnered the required two thirds majority votes of the 49 member states eligible to vote. Six AU member states are under sanctions and therefore ineligible to vote.
Youssouf, 60, will take over from the outgoing Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat (Chad, Central Region) who has served for two consecutive terms since 2017.
Youssouf is the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of Djibouti and has previously served as both the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) among key other roles.
He was competing against Raila and Richard Randriamandrato, Former Foreign Affairs Minister of the Republic of Madagascar.
The Chairperson of the AUC is the Chief Executive Officer, legal representative of the AU and the AU Commission Chief Accounting Officer. The Chairperson is elected by the Assembly for a four-year term, renewable once.
The Chairperson’s functions, include, among others, the overall responsibility for the Commission’s administration and finances; promoting and popularising the AU’s objectives and enhancing its performance; consulting and coordinating with key stakeholders like Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECS), and development partners, among other stakeholders; appointing and managing Commission staff; and acting as a depository for all African Union and the Organization of African Unity treaties and legal instruments.
Haddadi, 47, is career diplomat and the current Ambassador of Algeria to Ethiopia and the Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA. She is also a legal expert.
In line with the principle of gender rotation which dictates that if the Chairperson of the AU Commission is male, the Deputy Chairperson is female and vice versa, all male candidates competing for the Deputy Chairperson post were disqualified after the election of Mahmoud as Chairperson, leaving Latifah Akharbach (Morocco), Hanan Morsy (Egypt), and Najat Elhajjaji (Libya) as the other contestants competing with Haddadi for the position of Deputy Chairperson.
Following the withdrawal of the candidate from Libya, only three of the female candidates participated in race for Deputy Chairperson.
DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON
The Deputy Chairperson assists the Chairperson in the execution of his or her functions, to ensure the smooth running of the AU Commission, and oversees administration and finance functions. The Deputy acts as the Chairperson in his/ her absence.
The elections of the African Union Commission are governed by the AU Assembly Rules of Procedure and the AU Commission Statutes. The Deputy must not be from the same region as the Chairperson of the Commission.
Additionally, the regions that provide the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson do not contest for Commissioner positions of the African Union.
The elections of the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson were held after the elections and appointments of the AU Commission Commissioners during the 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs- on 12 February 2025.
COMMISSIONERS
Commissioners are elected for a four-year term, renewable once. 4 out of the 6 Commissioner positions available were elected. The following Commissioners were elected:
Amb. Bankole Adeoye (Nigeria, Western region) was re-elected to head the Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) department. In March 2021, he became the first Commissioner to lead the amalgamated Political Affairs, Peace and Security portfolios, which had hitherto, been two separate departments.
He previously served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the AU and UNECA and Ambassador to Ethiopia and Djibouti. He has also served as Chief of Staff for the African Union Development Agency (AUDA- NEPAD); Director of Corporate Services, and Coordinator, Partnerships & External Relations, as well as the Director in the International Organizations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Moses Vilakati (Eswatini, Southern region) was elected to head the Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE) department. He has served as a minister in Eswatini in both the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, and the Ministry of Agriculture. Previously, he served as the Project Director at the Eswatini Water and Agricultural Development Enterprise among other accomplishments. He takes over from Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko (Angola, Southern Region) who served for two terms.
Lerato Mataboge (South Africa, Southern region) was elected as the Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy (I&E) department. Mataboge is a global policy and trade and investment facilitation expert and is currently the Deputy Director-General in the South African Department of Trade, Industry and Competition. Prior to this role, she founded and was CEO of Trade Invest Africa. She also serves on the Board of the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC) as a non-Executive Director and is a member of the Finance and Investment Committee. She takes over from Amani Abou-Zeid (Egypt, Northern Region) who served for two terms.
Amb. Amma Twum-Amoah (Ghana, Western region) elected as Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS) department.
She is the former Ambassador to Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan and the Permanent Representative to the African Union.
She previously served as the Director, Economic, Trade and Investment Bureau of Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and served as the Minister Plenipotentiary/Special Government Projects at the Embassy of Ghana in Washington, D.C., U.S.A, among other senior positions. She takes over from Amb. Minata Samate Cessouma (Burkina Faso, Western Region)
The elections for the Commissioner for Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Mining (ETTIM) and Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI) were postponed.
The incumbent Commissioners namely Amb. Albert Muchanga and Prof. Mohammed Belhocine respectively, will continue to serve in their current positions until the elections are conducted.
A Panel of Eminent Africans composed of five personalities, one for each of the 5 regions of Africa, oversees the pre-selection of candidatures for the senior leadership of the AU Commission.
The Panel of Eminent Africans, technically assisted by an independent African consultancy firm, develops job profiles and competency requirements for the senior leadership of the Commission.
The assessment process for candidates vying for the positions of Commissioners is based on the skills and competencies identified for each portfolio.
