MONDAY, 6.00PM:
PRESIDENT Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso on Monday called for discussion rather than war between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Compaore made his call in opening the summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). He will assume chairmanship of the OAU at the end of the summit, the body’s 34th.
Compaore also complimented South African President Nelson Mandela, whom he described as “this intrepid African who every day shows us the way of dignity and liberty”.
MONDAY, 1.00PM:
THE Organisation of African Unity has recommended that African countries ease the air embargo imposed on Libya by the United Nations to allow diplomatic and humanitarian flights.
It also suggests that UN sanctions should be ignored after July, should the United States and Britain continue to refuse to allow two Libyan suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing to be tried in a neutral third country.
The UN sanctions were imposed in 1992 over Libya’s refusal to hand over the suspects for trial in the US or Britain. The bomb they are suspected of having planted killed 270 people in a PanAm jet flying over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In February, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that it had jurisdiction to hear the Libyan suit claiming the right to refuse to release the two suspects for trial in the US or Britain.
Meanwhile, at the OAU, the African heads of state will elect the summit’s host president, Blaise Compaore, as their next chairman, replacing President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
* President Nelson Mandela arrived in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Sunday for the OAU heads of state summit. It is his first stop in an 11-day trip which will include a European Union summit in Wales and Italy. During his time in Britain, Mandela will meet with various national leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth.