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Dlamini-Zuma Wins Top AU Spot After NY War of Lamb Chops & Eritrea

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 15 -- It took a long time and it got pretty dirty, but South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has supplanted Gabon's Jean Ping as chair of the AU Commission.

  While finally resolved in Addis Ababa, at the UN in New York this multi-month fight has played out, from grumbles about Gabon's role on Eritrea sanctions in December to a strange press conference at the Millennium Plaza Hotel featuring lamb chops and Equatorial Guinea.

  Each side has its arguments, some advances with others' resources, but now it is resolved: Nkosazana Diamini-Zuma has won.

  Certainly for Polisario and those wanting a referendum for Western Sahara, the result is a good one. Given the way the UN and others often take the UN for granted, too, having it headed by a large country is probably a good thing.

  One wonders what Ban Ki-moon and Jan Eliasson think -- this will be pursued. For now, late on Sunday from New York, we simply report the news: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is the new chair of the AU Commission. Watch this site.