
By TesfaNews,
Uganda’s Special Envoy Hon. Cecilia Ogwal has met Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and Foreign Affairs Minister Osman Saleh in Asmara to discuss Uganda’s bid for Chairmanship of the African Union Commission 2016 – 2020.
During the meeting, Hon. Cecilia Ogwal deliver President Museveni’s special message on the candidature of Dr. Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe representing Eastern Africa.
The African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Governments is expected to name South African Dlamini-Zuma’s successor at the forthcoming Summit scheduled for 16 – 17 July 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda.
The AU has disclosed the names of contestants vying for the job and Uganda’s candidate Dr. Wandira is seen as a front runner alongside Botswana’s candidate Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi.
After the meeting, Hon. Ogwal said she has got the assurances of Eritrea after President Afwerki said to her, “support to Eastern Africa’s candidate is an obligation, a commitment to moving Africa forward.”
Dr. Wandira-Kazibwe is surgeon and politician with a science doctorate in global health and population from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has served as Uganda’s Vice-President from 1994 – 2003, the first woman in Africa to hold such position, and also appointed by UN Secretary General in 2013 as Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Currently, Dr. Wandira served as a Presidential Advisor and member of the AU’s 5-person ‘Panel of the Wise [PoW], representing Eastern Africa.