Africa: Top African Diplomat Essy Bows Out, Makes Way for Konare

22 July 2003
allAfrica.com
interview By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Maputo, Mozambique — Alpha Oumar Konare, 57, the former president of Mali, was elected the new chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission at the recent AU summit in Maputo, Mozambique. The thinking among influential leaders of the year-old organisation was that the choice of an ex head of state as the "CEO" of Africa, would raise the stature of the organisation. The next four years - the length of Konare's tenure - will tell.

The man who failed to get a second stab at the job was the former Ivorian foreign minister, Amara Essy. As outgoing interim chairperson of the Commission, Essy will be watching Konare’s stewardship from the sidelines.

Essy’s own candidacy for renewal as Africa’s top diplomat was withdrawn by the Cote d’Ivoire government at the last minute on the eve of the Maputo summit, to avoid a messy political tussle and to demonstrate consensus that Konare was the right man.

Essy completed one year as the last secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), from 2001-2002, before his election at the launch of the AU in Durban, South Africa last year as the interim boss of the AU Commission. He was hoping to be confirmed in that post this year, before Cote d’Ivoire’s abrupt withdrawal of his nomination.

As he prepared to leave Maputo and the AU, to hand over to Konare in September at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Amara Essy told allAfrica.com’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton that he had no regrets.

Mr Essy, you are about to pass the baton to Alpha Oumar Konare as the new head of the AU Commission, how do you assess your tenure as the first interim chairperson?

I am happy because we have been able to do the tasks assigned by the heads of state and I am happy to leave now, because I think my job is done. I am happy to leave.

I think we did the job we had to do and I am happy that we have been able to launch the African Union in Durban and that all the structures are in place and that we have been able to work on the conditions of service of the African Union.

You know, if we want the African Union to be very strong, it will be a task and we need to attract all the best Africans, so we worked very hard on the conditions of service. We need to make the AU work now.

Do you feel a little disappointed -

- No, no, no, I’m not disappointed. To do something for your continent is a wonderful job. So I have no regrets. I am very happy. You know when you become ambassador and then you become a foreign minister, you know you will leave one day, what is important is how you will end your job, the way out is more important, because one day you will have to leave. But if you leave with the knowledge that you have achieved your work, you are happy.

I am happy, I am not disappointed. I have no regrets, no regrets, no regrets.

Do you feel you did a good job?

It’s not for me to say this. It is for the ministers, heads of states and the ambassadors to say. I cannot appreciate what I did myself.

But you had a vision for Africa, in one short year - as interim AU Commission chairperson after being the final secretary general of the Organisation of African Unity to the AU - have you had time to fulfil it?

We put in place all the structures. And to do all this in one year, in nine months, is not so easy, because you do not have the power to change everything in one year, because in this house you need many changes. It is difficult to make a change and to make an audit in one year and to be able to draft all these texts, but we did it.

I knew what the challenges were and I have no regrets.

But wouldn’t you have liked to stay on to continue the work you started?

Yes, because, in the final analysis, when you plant a seedling, you like to watch the tree grow. But we have done what was needed to do.

But why would you say your candidacy was withdrawn at the last minute by your country, Cote d’Ivoire?

It’s the government [of Cote d’Ivoire] that decides. The decision was justified by the declaration of the President [Laurent Gbagbo]. I don’t have anything more to say about this matter. What’s done is done.

So it wasn’t your personal decision to pull out?

A candidacy for the chairmanship of the AU Commission is not a personal decision. You are nominated by your country. It’s a decision by the state.

What was it like being "Mr Africa"? What were the high points of the job?

The good side is that you found in this house some Africans dedicated to the African Union and they worked day and night and we have been able to draft all these texts. And I am very happy to have got to know all these young people in the African Union.

What are your plans now?

I am a former ambassador, a former foreign minister, a former president of the [UN] General Assembly, a former president of the [UN] Security Council, so I have done a lot of things in my life. So now I need to read and to take time to see my family.

I will read many books I have had no time to read before. That is what I will try to do for one year. And maybe I will study also. And I need some rest. Since 1991, I have never taken one day of rest. Oh no, not true, because when there was a coup d’etat in Cote d’Ivoire [in December 1999], I spent ten days in the military camp [in detention]. That was the last rest I had.

So I’ll read many books and to try to think and to take care of my library and to see to all the things I’ve not had time to do.

African leaders always say they want to become farmers once they retire! Should we expect to see Amara Essy the farmer? Do you have a farm?

Yes I have a farm. But unfortunately in the coup d’etat, my farm was broken up, because it was in Bouake [first main town in central Cote d’Ivoire to be seized by Ivorian rebels in September 2003 revolt].

And you know I was mayor of my village, a tiny village (in northeastern Cote d’Ivoire) and I need to dedicate myself to the future of this village.

What is your advice to Alpha Oumar Konare, the former president of Mali, who will step into your shoes as the new AU Commission chairperson?

That he should put his feet firmly in the shoes of the African Union, because many times you don’t find in front of you many people who have the expertise. There are ambassadors, but sometimes some countries only have charges d’affaires [represented at the AU] and so, as a commissioner, you have to respect them. They represent the member states. So sometimes you have to drop down to their level and that is not so easy sometimes.

What virtue do you need most for the job, patience or a sense of humour?

Both. And Alpha Oumar Konare has humour and he has patience also. When you have been a head of state, you need to be patient, so I think he has this quality also, because you need to sit and listen to the people. That’s a quality of a head of state, so he has the patience also.

And, of course, you need a passion for Africa I presume?

Yes, yes. You know when I was elected in Lusaka [at the final OAU summit, as the interim secretary-general, leading the transition to the AU], I met many African leaders, Kofi Annan, [ex Senegalese president Abdou] Diouf and all the Africans working in the institution. And I said to them, you know this task is not my task. I am elected, but this is our task. The only thing we can do for the next generation is to make this African Union possible, so we have to be together and to work on this.

And I am happy that they all helped me. They sent many experts and we have been able to cooperate, all the Africans, to do all this.

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