The diplomatic storm surrounding the African Union’s handling of former Senegalese President Macky Sall’s bid for UN Secretary-General has taken a new turn after Burundi publicly confirmed it was the country behind the controversial nomination.
In a revealing intervention, Burundi’s Ambassador to the African Union, Willy Nyamitwe, disclosed that Sall’s candidature was formally submitted by Burundi as a member state, shedding light on what had remained unclear at the height of the dispute.
The revelation comes amid a widening procedural row that has exposed deep divisions within the AU.
At the center of the controversy is Burundi’s President Évariste Ndayishimiye, current Chairperson of the African Union, who has been accused by several member states of attempting to push forward the candidacy outside established processes.
The crisis began on March 2 when Burundi’s UN mission submitted a letter stating that “my government, current Chair of the African Union, nominates” Sall, catching many African capitals off guard.
The move triggered an unusually broad backlash. A coalition of 23 AU member states, including Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia, formally broke the silence procedure used to advance the decision, effectively blocking it.
Nigeria described the process as “procedurally incorrect” and warned that established rules and the principle of regional rotation had been disregarded.
Rwanda’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Olivier Nduhungirehe, called the process “a flawed procedure in total violation of all rules and regulations” and criticizing what he described as a 24-hour ultimatum imposed on member states.
Nyamitwe, however, came back with another twist, making the surprising revelation that the rejected claims of wrongdoing were unfounded, insisting that Burundi acted within its rights. He argued that no state is legally precluded from putting forward a candidacy and defended the use of the silence procedure as a standard AU practice.
He further maintained that the decision was not unilateral but stemmed from deliberations within the AU Bureau, adding that objections by member states demonstrate that the system is working, not that it has failed.
Critics remain unconvinced. For them, the issue is not just who submitted the candidacy but how it was done. They argue that procedural shortcuts cannot replace established consultation mechanisms and warn that such moves risk undermining Africa’s credibility at a time when unity is critical on the global stage.
With Burundi now openly identified as the sponsor of Sall’s bid, what began as a procedural dispute has evolved into a broader test of governance within the African Union, highlighting tensions between institutional rules, political manoeuvring, and the continent’s ability to act collectively.
