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Johannesburg – The United States has rubbished claims in recently leaked intelligence documents that it opposed AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s bid for the position in 2012.

Speaking at a press conference broadcast live across the continent, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the claims contained in the leaked intelligence documents, were “absolute rubbish”, City Press reported.

She said the US worked with the AU and with Dlamini-Zuma, and this partnership was growing. “I don’t know where those claims come from,” she said.

According to the documents, the US was one of those who “also played a significant behind-the-scenes role in campaigning” against Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign, which saw South Africa campaigning hard.

She faced opposition from francophone countries as well as from Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The leaked cables also allege former French ambassador Jean-Christopher Belliard had “tirelessly campaigned against the candidature of Dlamini-Zuma”.

The documents also claimed she faced an assassination threat which originated in Sudan, and that South African and Ethiopian intelligence agencies were unprepared for this.

Thomas-Greenfield said the AU summit she attended last month was her fourth one, and she commended efforts by the AU to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria and she was pleased with the session on Ebola.

She said the summit theme – women in development — was an issue that mattered a lot to the US.

Meanwhile, the African Union has assured the public its chairperson is safe after leaked intelligence documents revealed a plot to assassinate her.

The African Union said in a statement yesterday that it was aware of the October 2012 plot to kill Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Al Jazeera and the Guardian newspaper published classified documents from that time detailing the plan to kill Dlamini-Zuma days after she was appointed head of the organisation.

Al Jazeera reported that an “unnamed state” was behind the plot.

The documents show that Ethiopian spies suspected Sudan of being behind the plot, but found no reports of action against Sudan.

The documents said spies in Ethiopia and South Africa intercepted the plot in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where the African Union is headquartered. – AP.