Djibouti’s foreign minister on Thursday dismissed posts circulating online that he has withdrawn from the race to become the next chair of the African Union Commission in favour of former Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga.
“Don’t bother yourself with fake news, it is a trivial attempt by my adversaries to distract my supporters and mislead them,” Mahamoud Ali Youssouf said on X (formerly Twitter).
Youssouf’s post came after several Kenyan social media users claimed that the Djiboutian foreign minister had pulled out of the race for the African Union chairmanship just weeks before the continental body holds it election.
Youssouf, Odinga and former Malagasy former foreign minister Richard Randriamandrato are running for the top African Union post.
Youssouf also denied claims that he rejected a bribe of six billion Kenyan shillings to withdraw and support Odinga, dismissing it as “just propaganda”.
The election of the next African Union Commission chair is scheduled for February 2025 in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, which also serves also the headquarters of the AU.
The next holder of the post will succeed former Chadian prime minister Moussa Faki Mahamat who was first elected chairperson of the African Union Commission in 2017 for a four-year term and re-elected in 2021.
The chairpersons of the African Union Commission are limited to two terms in office.
