President Sall of Senegal to be next AU Chairperson
Senegalese President Macky Sall is set to take over from his Democratic Republic of Congo counterpart Felix Tshisekedi as the Chairperson of the African Union.
Sall will take the
role during the upcoming 35th African
Union Summit scheduled to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between February
5-6.
The Senegalese president was endorsed for the
position by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which was
expected to produce the next AU Chairperson.
He will serve in the capacity for the 2022-2023
period.
Sall’s tenure will mark the fourth time a Senegalese
leader will be running the AU after Léopold Sédar Senghor (1980) and Abdou
Diouf (1985 and 1992).
He is set to take over amidst the continent’s
continued fight against COVID-19, economic recovery as well as a myriad of
political upheavals, especially in West Africa. The position of the AU
chairperson is a rotating seat among member states that lasts one year.
The
African Union (AU) will also be mariking its 20th anniversary in 2022, and as pressure to
perform better increases, the upcoming heads of state summit. Following the
election of two commissioners in October 2021, the new AU Commission is now
fully operational and must show progress on implementing long-running reforms.
