Ambassador Conrad Mederic, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Seychelles to the African Union represented Mr. Sylvestre Radegonde, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, at the 22nd Extraordinary Session of the Executive Council held on Friday 15 March 2024 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The session was tasked with exploring the most suitable ways to elect senior officials within the African Union Commission, additionally, the session had to define the process of selecting the team that will lead the AU in 2025 for four years, by prioritizing considerations of cohesion, equity, rationality, and a spirit of consensus.
In his intervention, Ambassador Mederic recognised the importance of the Agenda item and noted the need for African Union Member States to prioritise the Continent’s interest in the preparations to elect the next leadership of the Commission. He further emphasized the importance for countries within the eligible regions to have equitable chances to serve the Leadership of the Commission.
The Session, without any objections, endorsed that the next Chairperson of the Commission should be from the Eastern Africa Region, which Seychelles falls into. The position of the Deputy Chairperson of the Commission shall be for the Northern Africa Region. Both the Eastern and Northern Regions are to submit female and male candidates for both positions respectively. The principle of rotational gender parity shall also be applied to the posts of Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson ensuring that if a male is elected as Chairperson, then the Deputy Chairperson shall be a female and vice versa. It was also decided that the three other regions; Central, Southern, and Western, would compete for the six positions of Commissioners, with the principles of gender equality and meritocracy.
Ambassador Mederic was accompanied by Mrs. Patricia Ilunga, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Seychelles in Addis Ababa.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism – Foreign Affairs Department, Republic of Seychelles.