Djiboutian Mahmoud Ali Youssouf elected head of the African Union Commission

African leaders on Saturday elected Djibouti’s foreign minister to become the next leader of the commission that runs the continent-wide African Union.

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf defeated Raila Odinga, a former prime minister of Kenya, and Richard Randriamandrato, an ex-foreign minister of Madagascar, in a vote at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

The AU has 55 member states. Presidents or heads of government pick the commission’s leader, who is effectively the chief executive of the Addis Ababa-based secretariat running the AU.

Youssouf, who will serve a four-year term, replaces Moussa Faki of Chad, who has held the post since 2017.