File image of President William Ruto in Addis Ababa.
The Director of Communications at Djibouti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Moussa Mohamed Omar has fired back at President William Ruto over the remarks he made following Raila Odinga’s AUC defeat.
Speaking on Saturday night at a dinner in Addis Ababa, Ruto said was the best-suited candidate for the AUC job.
The President noted that he regretted Africa losing the chance to be led by a distinguished leader a man he described as being the finest.
“I regret that Africa missed the opportunity to be served by the finest. Baba made me very proud. He was the best candidate we could have put forward,” the President noted.
Responding to Ruto’s comments that Africa was missing out on the best candidate, Omar said the continent deserved better than Raila.
“In response to President Ruto on Citizen TV Kenya: claiming Africa “lost an opportunity” is dishonest. 33 heads of state chose Mahmoud, the right choice for Africa’s challenges, refusing to let the AU be hostage to Kenyan domestic politics. Africa deserved better than Raila,” said the Djibouti official.
Djibouti’s Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf beat Raila and Madagascar’s Richard Randriamandrato in the AUC chairmanship election on Saturday 15 February.
Raila initially led the race, winning the first two rounds of voting before losing momentum. He was eliminated in the sixth round after Djibouti’s candidate garnered 26 votes, while he got 22 votes with one abstention.
Mahmoud went through to the seventh round on his own, securing the requisite two-thirds majority with 33 votes.
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