African leaders were divided Monday over a historic vote that saw the first woman elected to head the AU Commission, with some hailing the decision as others criticised powerhouse South Africa's tactics.
Many participants in the African Union summit appeared relieved that the six-month impasse over the continental body's top job had finally been broken Sunday night when South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma won a tightly fought vote to become the new AU Commission head.
Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's home affairs minister, beat the incumbent, Jean Ping of Gabon, in a close election. The two posed for pictures together on Monday afternoon.
"There was a definite sense of relief" within the AU after the vote, said a Western diplomat who asked not to be identified. But the "very tough and aggressive" campaign waged by the candidates "will leave marks and resentment" he said, particularly "if the South Africans did indeed bring pressure to bear", as some leaders have alleged.
Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma - Dlamini-Zuma's ex-husband and current boss - said he hoped the new appointment would result in a "more effective" AU.
"The African Union has taken many very good decisions. The problem is to get them implemented," he told journalists. Zuma's office said he was "humbled by the confidence that Africa has showed in the Southern Africa candidate".
Reaction from the rest of the continent was mixed. "We accept... and we respect the opinion of the leaders," said Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid, a senior member of Sudan's ruling National Congress Party.
Kenya, which voted for Ping, conceded that the breaking of the deadlock was good for the continent, with Richard Onyonka, an assistant foreign affairs minister, calling the vote "a kind of victory for Africa because we have moved forward."
But he said he disapproved of South Africa's tactics. "I believe this election has brought sharp divisions within the AU and it was not necessary," he said. Another delegate, who did not want to be identified, accused South Africa, home to the continent's largest economy, of buying votes.
Dlamini-Zuma, 63, is a veteran of the fight against apartheid. A doctor by training, she has also served as health and foreign minister.
Voting took place at the AU summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where, earlier on Sunday, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo agreed to an international force to neutralise rebels in eastern DR Congo, as the AU said it was ready to send peacekeepers.
The vote raised tensions between Africa's French- and English-speaking countries. South Africa also drew accusations of violating an unwritten rule that the AU top job should go to a candidate from one of the continent's smaller countries.
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