South Africa’s Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AU) arrived Yaoundé yesterday Thursday 24 November 2016, for a 72 stay but left immediately due to some modifications on her busy agenda. Madam Zuma had traveled to the nation’s capital on the invitation of the Confederation of African Football for the 2016 women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Cameroon Intelligence Report was informed that because of a last-minute change of agenda, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had to shorten her visit to Cameroon originally scheduled for 72 hours. Correspondingly, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission will not be able to watch any of the matches of the 10^th edition of the Women’s AFCON as she had hoped.

Some reports suggested that she wanted to meet with players and members of the various delegations and staffs present in Yaoundé at the moment notably Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and Zimbabwe.  The South African team that started the first round of the competition in Yaoundé moved the day before her arrival to Limbe. The Banyana-Banyana will play against Egypt in their third and final match of the first round of the competition.

For the past four years, there has been a partnership agreement between CAF and the AU. This partnership aims to use the visibility of CAF competitions, to sensitize and disseminate various messages that can help improve the daily lives of Africans. As part of this 10^th edition of Women’s AFCON hosted in Cameroon, CAF and AU have joined forces with UNICEF and Powerplay to campaign against the marriage of girls. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma reportedly met only Prime Minister and Head of Government, Philemon Yang.

By Sama Ernest with cables from CIN