The President of Angola Joao Lourenco has been elected as the new chairperson of the African Union Assembly for the year 2025.
The president of the largest Portuguese-speaking country in Africa has been confirmed during the ongoing 38th African Union Summit in Ethiopia Addis Ababa this Saturday, February 15, 2025.
Lourenço officially takes over from Mauritania’s Mohamed Ould Ghazouani as African Union Chairperson.
The AU chairperson is the ceremonial head of the African Union and is elected by the assembly of heads of state and governments for a rotational leadership of a one-year term.
The chairmanship rotates among the continent’s five regions in the order of East, North, Southern, Central, and West on a principle of equitable regional representation.
Among his roles as the incumbent includes chairing the biannual summit meetings of the assembly and representing the continent in various international forums such as G7 meetings, Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Forum On China Africa Cooperation (FOCAF) and G20 summits that bring together heads of state or government from member countries to discuss key global issues.
The chair also assists in resolving crises on the continent as an elder statesman.
In 2023, Both Kenya and Comoros vied for the AU chairman role. President William Ruto later stepped down in favour of his counterpart.
