Bullying claim as first female AU leader elected

South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has been appointed the first female head of the African Union, prompting accusations that the nation is looking to dominate the politics of the continent.

Dlamini-Zuma beat incumbent Jean Ping, from Cameroon, after a bruising six-month leadership battle which highlighted lingering divisions between Africa's Anglophone and Francophone nations and deflected attention from crises, including the conflict in the Sudans and DR Congo, as well as coups in West Africa and the hunger crisis in the Sahel region.

The former wife of South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, got 60 per cent of the votes she needed from the 54-nation bloc to see off Ping at a summit in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

With voting split along linguistic lines, Dlamini-Zuma's victory was also seen as a win for Anglophone nations. But South Africa was accused of bullying smaller nations in a "face-saving exercise" having failed to win enough support to take the post in January. Diplomats spoke of a "difficult heads of state meeting" and complained that South Africa may have "pushed too hard" to get Dlamini-Zuma appointed.

After her win, the widely respected 63-year-old attempted to reassure smaller economies that Pretoria was not looking to dominate the continent: "South Africa is not going to come to Addis Ababa to run the AU. It is Dlamini-Zuma who is going to come to make a contribution."

The prospect of another six months of squabbling appeared to concentrate minds in Addis Ababa, along with fears of a further loss of credibility for an organisation viewed by some observers as an ineffective talking shop. The failure of many nations to pay their membership dues means for all its talk of a prosperous Africa, the bloc depends on international donors for much of its US$274 million ($343 million) annual budget. That influence was underlined by China's gift of a headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.

The AU's new leader comes into the job with a respectable report card from her ministerial career in South Africa. Often described as a "stalwart" of the ruling African National Congress, she has been in government for longer than her former partner, the President. "She's a capable and hard-working minister," said Catherine Grant from the South African Institute of International Affairs.

Her backers say she has demonstrated a serious commitment to development issues and is a good negotiator.

- Independent