AU chief on official visit |14 June 2013

She was met at the Seychelles International Airport yesterday morning by Vice-President Danny Faure accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam, Tourism and Culture Minister Alain St Ange, ambassadors Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Barry Faure and Joseph Nourrice, who is the resident ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and permanent representative to the African Union.

Two pupils from Cascade school – Michella Barbier and Riyad Pool – presented Mrs Dlamini-Zuma with a basket of flowers upon her arrival.

Yesterday, Mrs Dlamini-Zuma called on President James Michel at State House and addressed an extraordinary session of the National Assembly.

Today, she will attend the opening of the Persévérance primary school and tomorrow the official opening of the Anse Royale hospital.

Also tomorrow, Mrs Dlamini-Zuma will plant a sapling at the arboretum of the VIP Tree Planting Park at the Biodiversity Centre at Barbarons.
Mrs Dlamini-Zuma and her delegation will leave the country tomorrow night.
A renowned anti-apartheid activist, Mrs Dlamini-Zuma held the offices of health minister, foreign minister and interior minister of South Africa before being elected AU chairperson.

She is the first woman to hold the post of AU chairperson and was elected into office on July 15, 2012 after winning a tightly contested vote at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to head the 54-member organisation. She succeeded Jean Ping of Gabon who had served in the AU post since 2008.

Mrs Dlamini-Zuma had to undergo three voting rounds before Mr Ping was eliminated. A final confidence vote of 37 in favour gave her the 60% majority she needed to be elected.