Africa: Benin President Yayi Elected New AU Chairman

By Staff Writer

ADDIS ABABA---The President of Benin Republic, Yayi Boni, has been elected as the chairman of the African Union (AU) Sunday in the Assembly of heads of state and government of the AU held at the AU summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital.

He succeeds the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who held the largely ceremonial post throughout 2011.

“I want to congratulate the new chairman of the African Union… Boni Yayi,” said Obiang, the outgoing chairman, speaking after the official announcement at the AU summit meeting in the Ethiopian capital.

Against expectations that the Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan will emerge Chairman of the Africa's largest body, leadership gathered that news of insecurity and the mass protests both at home and abroad that trailed the removal of fuel subsidy played major roles in turning down the choice of Jonathan as AU Chairman.

Yayi, an economist who took office six years ago of the small West African nation, said he accepted the post with humility for the "high responsibility."

Giving his acceptance speech, Yayi declared that “Africa is the continent of the future. Our continent will be one of hope and peace. The future of Africa belongs to a unified Africa that works in solidarity, is better managed and lives in peace and security”.

Yayi stressed the need for greater economic integration and intra-African trade. “These solutions are within our reach”, he declared.

Looking back over the past year, he praised the independence of the AU’s newest member state, South Sudan. Sudan and South Sudan, he claimed, had decided “never again to take up arms”, and to solve all problems through peaceful means.

The post-election violence in Ivory Coast, he added, ‘had a happy ending”, and he assured the country’s President, Alassane Outtara, “of our full support in the efforts he has deployed for reconciliation”.

As for the uprisings in North Africa, Yayi described them as part of “the process of democratization that began in the 1980s”. He congratulated the new authorities in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya for “their commitment to the rule of law”.

Yayi declared that the international cooperation Africa needs should not be charity, but should be based on a “win-win” approach.

The chair rotates from region to region, and in 2012 it is the turn of West Africa to provide the chairperson.