Luanda — The next chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) is to be elected in February 2025, and a candidate should be proposed by the East African Region, when Angola will assume the leadership of the African Union for the first time.

The decision was taken at the last Extraordinary Meeting of the Executive Council of the African Union, held on Friday in Addis Ababa, where the Angolan delegation was led by the secretary of State for International Cooperation and Angolan Communities, Domingos Custódio Vieira Lopes.

According to a press release from the Angolan Permanent Representative to the African Union and to the Economic Commission for the United Union and for Africa, the meeting also decided that the northern region should propose a candidate to the post of vice-president of AUC, which is an executive body of the African Union.

The other regions of Africa namely Central, Southern and Western will have to nominate at least 2 candidates for the 6 commissioner portfolios of the continental organisation, respecting the principle of inter-regional rotation and gender proportionality, the note adds.

Since the transition from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU) in 2002, there have been five elections for members of the commission. The first was for the 2003-2008 term. The current one, elected in 2021, is due to complete its mandate in 2025.

The Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Miguel César Bembe, is also Angola's ambassador to Ethiopia and was part of the Angolan delegation at the 22nd Extraordinary Session of the AU Executive Council.