NAIROBI: The African Union on Saturday named former Ghanaian president John Mahama its High Representative to Somalia to try and resolve a dire political crisis due to a dispute over delayed elections.

Mahama’s aim would be “a mutually acceptable compromise towards an all-encompassing resolution for the holding of Somali elections in the shortest possible time,” the AU said in a statement.

The continental body’s chairman Moussa Faki urged Somali leaders to “negotiate in good faith... for an inclusive settlement to the electoral crisis”.

Mahama, a 62-year-old who led Ghana from 2012 to 2017, is expected in Somalia “in the coming days”.