African leaders elected Djibouti’s foreign minister to become the next leader of the commission than runs the continent-wide African Union.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf defeated Raila Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya, and Richard Randriamandrato, an ex-foreign minister of Madagascar, in a vote at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

The AU has 55 member states. Presidents or heads of government pick the commission’s leader, who is e ffectively the chief executive of the Addis Ababa-based secretariat running the AU.

Youssouf, who will serve a four-year term, replaces Moussa Faki of Chad, who has held the post since 2017.

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