Somalia, Darfur to top AU agenda

Delegates from the 52 countries that make up the African Union gathered on Monday to address their continent’s crises during a one-day summit in Tripoli.

The “special summit” was called by Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi, also current AU president, during a regular meeting of the bloc less than a month ago.

High on the agenda was the situation in Darfur and Somalia, whose moderate Islamic leadership headed by sheikh Ahmed Sharif is at the heart of bloody confrontations with radical Islamists.

“We all know that Africa is exposed to dangerous security problems in many parts of the continent that may lead to regional wars. This situation is unacceptable—be that in Somalia or Darfur or the Great Lakes Area,” Libyan news agency Jana quoted the chairperson of the AU executive council, Ali al-Treiki, as telling a summit preparatory meeting on Sunday.

According to Janu, AU Commissioner Jean Ping told the meeting: “Our discussions must be based on our ambitious vision to find practical applicable solutions in terms of setting up new plans to settle such problems and conflicts.”

The summit comes on the eve of celebrations of the 40th anniversary of Gadaffi’s military coup in 1969.—Sapa-dpa