African leaders on Monday opened a summit in Khartoum dominated by a controversial bid from host country Sudan to head the African Union as the pan-African body seeks to end the bloodshed in Darfur.
The campaign by President Omar al-Beshir, who seized power in a coup in 1989, to take over the chairmanship of the 53-nation AU could derail peace efforts in Sudan’s western Darfur region, where fighting has left 300 000 dead over the past three years.
Human rights groups have raised the alarm over the choice of Sudan to lead the AU, arguing that it would be tantamount to rewarding a regime accused by the United States of genocide in Darfur.
Darfur rebels taking part in AU-sponsored peace talks in Abuja have warned they will pull out of the negotiations if Sudan is given the presidency of the AU, set up in 2002 with a stronger commitment to tackle the continent’s conflicts.
About 300 000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced since 2003 in Darfur, where rebels are fighting government forces backed by militias.
With delegates divided over the bid, representatives from five countries — Botswana, Ethiopia, Niger, Gabon and Algeria — joined by AU Commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare asked Beshir late on Sunday to withdraw his bid for the top post, according to diplomatic sources.
”It would be unfortunate if we did not find a candidate that would allow us to avoid a vote,” said Senegalese Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio.
But a solution to the row over who should take over from Nigeria to head the AU had yet to be found as the summit opened with about 40 heads of states in attendance at a conference centre in Khartoum.
Sources said Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguessou could emerge as a compromise candidate, giving Central Africa its turn at the helm, while Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo could also be asked to stay on in the post that he has held since 2004.
The only official candidate for the AU chair, Sudan had won support from Egypt and Libya for its bid but West and Southern African governments were reluctant to give Khartoum the high-profile position.
Sudan’s campaign to win the AU chair came as the body was seeking to shore up its troubled 7 000-strong peacekeeping force in Darfur by asking the United Nations to take over its command.
The two-day summit — attended by South African President Thabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi, among others — participants are to look at ways to address conflicts across the continent.
In a major human rights test, African leaders will also be asked by Senegal to decide whether to extradite Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre to Belgium, where he is wanted to face trial for crimes against humanity.
Acting on an arrest warrant issued by Belgium, Senegal arrested Habre in November but then asked the AU to decide the fate of the former Chadian leader, who ruled from 1982 until 1990, when he was deposed by Idriss Deby.
While it appeared unlikely that the leaders would agree to hand over Habre to Belgium, a former colonial power, they could ask the AU to set up a panel of legal experts to come up with options for trying him.
They will also take stock of the situation in Côte d’Ivoire, where four days of anti-UN protests last week prompted the UN Security Council to consider sanctions at a meeting in New York on Monday. — Sapa-AFP