At least four veteran African politicians — from Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, and Madagascar — are vying to take over the African Union’s top post.

The pan-continental body, which has 55 member states, will hold elections at its summit in February to choose a successor to Moussa Faki Mahamat as chair of the African Union Commission.

This year the role is reserved for a representative from East Africa to replace Faki, a veteran politician from Chad who has served since 2017.

“I am the only candidate capable of bridging the gap between the different regions of Africa, being French-speaking, but also English-speaking and Arabic-speaking,” said Djibouti’s candidate Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

The 58-year-old Youssouf has been foreign minister of the tiny but strategic Horn of Africa nation since 2005.

“My primary objective if I am elected is to silence the guns” on the continent, he told AFP in an interview last month.

His main rival is veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who at 79 has tried and failed five times to become president, most recently losing the 2022 election to William Ruto.

Odinga spent his early years in politics either in jail or in exile, fighting for democracy during the autocratic rule of president Daniel arap Moi.

“We are focused on bringing the seat home for Kenya and serving the African people,” Odinga said on X last month announcing his formal candidacy.

The third confirmed candidate is Anil Gayan, 76, who served as the foreign minister of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius between 1983 and 1986 and again from 2000 to 2003.

Gayan, who has since served in other posts including tourism and health minister, told AFP he had submitted his candidacy last week.

A fourth candidate was announced late Wednesday by Madagascar, with the country’s ex-Foreign Minister Richard James Randriamandrato put forward.

Randriamandrato served as foreign minister from March to October 2022 but was fired after voting at the United Nations to condemn Russia’s annexations of four Ukrainian regions.

The deadline for candidacies closed on August 6, but the African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa, has not yet issued a final list.

The election is conducted by secret ballot, and the winner must secure a majority of two thirds of the vote among eligible member states.

The AU commission chair — effectively the body’s chief executive — serves a four-year term, renewable once.