African heads of state meeting in Kigali failed today to elect a new head of the African Union and will try again in January, an official said. 
 
Current AU Commission President Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was due to stand down but leaders were unable to agree on a successor to lead the executive branch of the continental body during its 27th summit meeting, being held in the Rwandan capital. 
 
&quot;Black smoke billows from the 27th AU Summit as no winner emerges... Commission elections postponed till next summit,&quot; Dlamini-Zuma&#39;s spokesman, Jacob Enoh Eben, said on Twitter, referencing the smoke signal that precedes the naming of a new pope. 
 
None of the three candidates was able to muster the two-thirds majority required to win in the secret ballot. 
 
Ahead of the vote many states had expressed dismay at the &quot;lack of stature&quot; among the little known candidates from Botswana, Equatorial-Guinea and Uganda and, in the end, 28 of the 54 member states abstained from the final round of voting thus forcing a postponement of the election and an extension of Dlamini-Zuma&#39;s term. 
 
(AFP)

28 of the 54 member states abstained from the final round of voting thus forcing postponement of the election

African heads of state meeting in Kigali failed today to elect a new head of the African Union and will try again in January, an official said. Current AU Commission President Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was due to stand down but leaders were unable to agree on a successor to lead the executive branch of the continental body during its 27th summit meeting, being held in the Rwandan capital. "Black smoke billows from the 27th AU Summit as no winner emerges... Commission elections postponed till next summit," Dlamini-Zuma's spokesman, Jacob Enoh Eben, said on Twitter, referencing the smoke signal that precedes the naming of a new pope. None of the three candidates was able to muster the two-thirds majority required to win in the secret ballot. Ahead of the vote many states had expressed dismay at the "lack of stature" among the little known candidates from Botswana, Equatorial-Guinea and Uganda and, in the end, 28 of the 54 member states abstained from the final round of voting thus forcing a postponement of the election and an extension of Dlamini-Zuma's term. (AFP)

African Union fails to elect new leader

Events in South Sudan, where hundreds died in four days of fierce fighting between forces loyal to the country&#39;s rival leaders, are &quot;totally unacceptable&quot;, African Union Commission president Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Wednesday. 
 
&quot;What is happening again in South Sudan is totally unacceptable,&quot; she said in Rwanda&#39;s capital Kigali ahead of an AU summit due to begin Sunday. 
 
&quot;Governments and leadership are there to protect the vulnerable, to serve the people, not to prey on them and be the cause of their suffering,&quot; Dlamini-Zuma said. 
 
&quot;Hardly two months after the formation of this government of national unity, the belligerents are back in the trenches and the people of South Sudan, instead of celebrating five years of independence, once again are barricaded in their homes or must flee like sheep before the wolves,&quot; she said. 
 
This weekend&#39;s summit will be overshadowed by the ongoing conflict in South Sudan and the protracted political crisis in Burundi, both of which have made the AU appear weak and ineffectual. 
 
(AFP)

'Governments and leadership are there to protect the vulnerable, to serve the people, not to prey on them,' she says

Events in South Sudan, where hundreds died in four days of fierce fighting between forces loyal to the country's rival leaders, are "totally unacceptable", African Union Commission president Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Wednesday. "What is happening again in South Sudan is totally unacceptable," she said in Rwanda's capital Kigali ahead of an AU summit due to begin Sunday. "Governments and leadership are there to protect the vulnerable, to serve the people, not to prey on them and be the cause of their suffering," Dlamini-Zuma said. "Hardly two months after the formation of this government of national unity, the belligerents are back in the trenches and the people of South Sudan, instead of celebrating five years of independence, once again are barricaded in their homes or must flee like sheep before the wolves," she said. This weekend's summit will be overshadowed by the ongoing conflict in South Sudan and the protracted political crisis in Burundi, both of which have made the AU appear weak and ineffectual. (AFP)

'What is happening again in South Sudan is totally unacceptable,' says AU chief

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African Union fails to elect new leader

'What is happening again in South Sudan is totally unacceptable,' says AU chief