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Mahmoud Ali Youssouf

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf

5th Chairperson of the African Union Commission

Mahmoud Ali Youssouf is a Djiboutian diplomat and international politician serving as the 5th Chairperson of the African Union Commission since March 2025. Before assuming executive leadership of the continental organization, he spent two decades as Djibouti’s Foreign Minister, establishing himself as a key mediator across the Horn of Africa, Red Sea maritime disputes, and Arab League alignments. Steering the 55-member bloc from AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, his AUC mandate focuses on continental security stabilization, driving the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) implementation, and coordinating climate action and sovereign debt relief negotiations for member states.

Quick facts about Mahmoud Ali Youssouf

  1. He is the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), elected in February 2025 to succeed Moussa Faki Mahamat and officially assuming office on March 13, 2025.
  2. He was born on September 2, 1965, in Djibouti City, French Somaliland, earning his Master's degree in Applied Foreign Languages from the University of Lyon 2 in France.
  3. He served as the longest-tenured Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Djibouti from May 22, 2005, to April 1, 2025, under President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh.
  4. He secured the top diplomatic executive post of the African Union after defeating high-profile contenders, including Kenya's former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, in the multi-round elections at the 38th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly.
  5. They are facing complex continental governance challenges under his AUC administration, spanning active diplomatic intervention in the Sahel-Gulf of Guinea regional security framework, mediation efforts in the Libyan crisis, and managing post-ATMIS security transitions in Somalia.

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