Zimbabwe made a surprise diplomatic victory Satur day at the ongoing foreign ministers meeting in Ethiopia when it landed a slot at the powerful Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union, PANA reported from here.

Zimbabwe took a slot, representing Southern Africa at the powerful PSC, alongside East Africa's representatives, Kenya and Central Africa's representative, Burundi. while Equitorial Guinea will also represent Central Africa for a three-year term.

Libya, alongside the five other countries, will represent the North African region for a term of three years, the African Union's Director of Legal Affairs, Ben Kioko said.

'The foreign ministers did the elections at 4 am, East Africa time,' the AU official told a news conference on Saturday.

The foreign ministers, also known as the Executive Council, also elected some 10 members of the PSC, to serve for two-year terms.

These include Djibouti and Rwanda, who would represent Eastern Africa, Mauritania, Nigeria, West Africa, Namibia and South Africa, (Southern Africa), Benin and Cote d'Ivoire (West Africa), Mali and Chad.

The list of candidates elected for the positions also showed a certain bias towards countries that have been subjects of recent PSC discussions over the two years.

Mauritania was re-admitted to the AU after a brief suspension, following a military coup.

Cote d'Ivoire is still a subject of discussions over the need to return to full political stability through the conduct of presidential elections.

Kioko said the candidates were elected in strict adherance to the current laws governing the election of new members to serve in the council.

The Council is critical to the operations of the African Union. Its main responsibility is to monitor the progress of the peace activities in Africa and take preventive measures to stop the occurance of conflicts.

It is entitled to meet to pronounce an AU position in case of a political crisis.

'The PSC protocol gives the specific roles to the regions to elect their representatives. It sets out a certain creteria to be used in the elections and submits the names for those to be elected for the three-year term. This is the process that was followed,' Kioko said.

Zimbabwe's elections came as word went out that South African President Jacob Zuma is to present a proposal to the African Union, starting its Heads of State Summit here Sunday, to consider early elections in Zimbabwe.

By Staff reporter and agencies