AFRICAN heads of state have proclaimed the birth of the African Union, a continental confederation loosely modelled on the European Union and actively sponsored by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Togo President Gnassingbe Eyadema told an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) extraordinary summit that 46 of the OAU 53 member states had signed the founding act of the union. But few diplomats expect any immediate impact from a union which envisions a continent living in democracy with respect of human rights, far from its current woes of war, ethnic and religious conflicts, famine and disease. – Reuters