Kagame Elected 2nd Vice President Of African Union

President Paul Kagame has been elected second vice president of African Union(AU) at the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Union from Addis Ababa- Ethiopia.

The president will serve for one year in this capacity where he was elected by Assembly of Heads of States of AU.

Chadian’s President Idriss Debi took over the presidency from Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who has been serving since January 2015.

The presidency of African Union rotates among continent’s five regions; East, North, Southern, Central and West Africa.
During the Friday’s African Peer Review meeting, President Kagame said “the notion and substance of assessment by peers in African governance context should not be lost.”

“Africa can and should learn from other places and other people provided we adjust and adapt those lessons to our own circumstances,” he said.

Heads of State will discuss the Burundi crisis, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab etc.

For the Burundi situation, they are set to decide whether to send an African Union force in Burundi to help establish peace and security or not.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who is attending the meeting said, “Leaders who stand by while civilians are slaughtered in their name must be held responsible.”

During the same summit, Heads of State also approved Rwanda as host of the 27th AU summit in June 2016.
Earlier in the week, the chairperson of the Africa Union (AU), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma appointed Dr. Donald Kaberuka, a Rwandan economist and former President of African Development Bank to serve as inaugural AU High Representative for the peace fund.