Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)
Monday, January 29, 2007
The war-torn region is at the top of the agenda at the two-day summit, which opened on Monday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, and was a major sticking factor in presenting the chairmanship to Sudan.
A committee chose the West African nation - celebrating its 50th year of independence - as a compromise.
Rights watchdog Amnesty International lambasted the AU for considering Sudan as a potential chair.
'Electing Sudan as chair of the AU while it defies the decisions of the AU and UN to send peacekeepers to Darfur would undermine the credibility of the AU as well as its own commitment to uphold human rights in Africa,' said Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty's Africa programme.
Chad, one of Sudan's sworn enemies, has said it would withdraw from the AU if Sudan was given the chair.
The chairmanship was only one hurdle to overcome at the summit, as the international community is pushing the pan-African group to urge Sudan to accept a robust UN force in Darfur, where 200,000 people have been killed in more than three years of fighting.
The government is charged with arming the militias fuelling the rebellion, a claim it denies.
On Monday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is attending the summit, called for an 'urgent' deployment of blue helmets to the western Sudanese province. He is set to meet with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday in a push to have him accept the UN presence in Darfur.
Bashir crisply refused the force for months until he recently accepted a UN mission in principal but its size is disputed.
New York-based Human Rights Watch called on African leaders to impose sanctions on Sudan should President Omar Hassan al-Bashir refuse the UN mission.
Anarchic Somalia is also high on the list for the summit, with the current AU chairman, Alpha Oumar Konare stressing on Monday that 'chaos' will ensue in Somalia if a peacekeeping mission isn't deployed soon to the Horn of Africa country.
Konare said some 4,000 troops have been offered out of a planned 8,000-strong deployment.
'If African troops are not deployed quickly, there will be chaos,' Konare said, speaking to some 30 African heads of state as well as foreign leaders and diplomats.
He said Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi and Ghana have offered up troops to help the newly-powerful Somali transitional government bring order to the lawless country that was somewhat stable during six months of Islamist rule.
The Islamists were ousted by Ethiopian-backed government troops last month.
Konare also said that if the fighting in Sudan's Darfur region isn't stopped, the entire region could be destabilized.
'Peace in Sudan means peace in Chad means peace in the Central African Republic (CAR),' Konare said.
The Darfur conflict has seen the violent killings spill over to neighbouring countries, with both Chad and CAR accusing Sudan of arming the militias causing the fighting.
Source: DPA, Jan 29, 2007