In a rare move, the Nigerian President and head of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, has publicly rebuked an AU Commission decision to appoint a special envoy to resolve an ongoing political standoff in Togo.
Obasanjo told journalists in Lomé that he ”repudiated” a commission statement last week appointing former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda as special AU envoy to Togo.
”This declaration does not engage any head of state and my colleagues have asked me to declare that here.”
The row is the most public disagreement in the AU since it was set up in 2002, and is being described in the Nigerian press as a slight to the AU Commission chairperson, Alpha Omar Konare.
According to the Nigerian press, Obasanjo found out about Kaunda’s appointment from the media.
The commission — which is the main organ for the day-to-day running of AU affairs — is obliged to consult the chairperson before making key decisions.
Obasanjo has played an active role in Togo since the death of its president of 38 years, Gnassingbe Eyadema, threw the country into political turmoil in February.
Spearheaded by the military, Eyadema’s son, Faure Gnassingbe, was initially installed as president but later stepped down under pressure from Obasanjo, and presidential elections were held on April 24.
These elections, which validated the father-to-son transition of power, have been denounced as fatally flawed by the Togolese opposition. The European Parliament and the US also reported widespread irregularities.
The AU, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States accepted the election result, and Obasanjo has been spearheading efforts to get the Togolese opposition to join a government of unity to defuse further conflict.
In what the Togolese government has billed as a conciliatory move, Gnassingbe has offered the post of prime minister to a representative from the six-party opposition coalition. But, some members of the coalition have expressed their reluctance to work within a government they do not see as being legitimate and which they say is continuing to persecute opposition activists.