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Raila gets the support of 19 countries in his AU bid

Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has secured the support of at least 19 countries even as he embarks on an extensive cross-Africa campaign for the top continental job.

The details emerged as President William Ruto prepares to officially launch Raila’s campaign for Africa Union Commission chairman on Tuesday.

The race is seen as a major diplomatic trial for the President as it will test his influence among his peers across Africa.

Raila is facing off with Djibouti’s Mohamoud Youssouf, Anil Gayan (Mauritius) and Richard Randriamandrato (Madagascar) for the African Union Commission chairmanship.

The four seek to succeed the outgoing chairman Moussa Faki of Chad. The elections are scheduled for February next year.

The daring Djibouti candidate who came to campaign in Nairobi two weeks ago is seen as Raila’s biggest challenger.

He is multilingual and boasts fluency in English, French and Arabic — three key languages of the AU

It is also believed that Raila has secured the support of Somalia after President Ruto met his counterpart, Hassan Mohamud.

The two leaders met recently in Rwanda on the sidelines of President Paul Kagame’s inauguration ceremony where they held talks believed to have been about Raila’s candidacy.

However, a communication by the Somalia President’s office said their talks revolved around pressing security issues in the East Africa region.

The two leaders reaffirmed the enduring Somalia-Kenya partnership and fostering strong people-to-people relations.

“They expressed a mutual commitment to advancing regional peace, stability, and development, guided by shared values,” Villa Somalia said on X.

Somalia’s hopeful for the AU job, former Foreign Affairs minister Fawzia Yusuf, dropped her bid.

Recently, she was in Nairobi to endorse Raila’s candidature.

However, it emerged that she was made to drop her bid by her country following a request by Djibouti that is fielding a candidate for the seat.

Raila is on the campaign trail with the solid support of his home country, Kenya.

President William Ruto has signalled that he would deploy all state machinery to help Raila’s campaign.

Ruto will next Tuesday launch Raila’s candidacy in Nairobi, setting the stage for a cross-continental campaign.

 A joint campaign secretariat consisting of Raila’s team and government bureaucrats is already in place to strategise and spearhead the charm offensive


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