Participants attend the 33rd ordinary session of the assembly of heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, Feb. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Chad's former prime minister Moussa Faki Mahamat on Saturday won a second term as head of the African Union's executive body at the opening of a two-day virtual summit expected to focus on the continent's pandemic response.

Faki, who ran unopposed, received support from 51 of 55 member states in the secret ballot, officials said.

"Deeply humbled by the overwhelming and historic vote of confidence," Faki tweeted. He also congratulated Monique Nsanzabaganwa, deputy governor of the National Bank of Rwanda, on her election as his deputy.

The AU summit comes almost exactly one year after Egypt recorded the first coronavirus case in Africa, prompting widespread fears that member states' weak health systems would quickly be overwhelmed. 

But despite early doomsday predictions, the continent has been hit less hard than other regions so far, recording 3.5 percent of virus cases and 4 percent of deaths worldwide, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

But many African countries are battling second waves while straining to procure sufficient vaccine doses. 

African leaders have been speaking out against vaccine hoarding by rich countries at the expense of poorer ones.

"There is a vaccine nationalism on the rise, with other rich countries jumping the queue, some even pre-ordering more than they require," Faki said in an interview posted on the AU's website ahead of the summit.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to deliver a pandemic response update during the closed portion of the summit Saturday.

In an earlier speech he called for "a fresh injection of resources" from the International Monetary Fund to "correct the glaring inequality in fiscal stimulus measures between advanced economies and the rest of the world."

Also on Saturday, Nigerian Bankole Adeoye was elected to head the AU's newly merged political affairs and peace and security departments.

He is likely to play a critical role, along with Faki, in addressing crises the AU is accused of overlooking. 

AFP