A summit of African Union leaders began in Addis Ababa on Monday, with Sudan receiving a public dressing-down over violence in Darfur that also threatens Khartoum’s ambitions to chair the organisation.
New United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was set to add his weight to the mounting pressure on Omar al-Bashir’s regime when he holds showdown talks with the Sudanese president on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit, held amid massive security in the Ethiopian capital, was also focusing on efforts to put together a peacekeeping force for lawless Somalia as well as issues such as global warming and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
The situation in Darfur, however, dominated both the build-up to the summit and its opening speech by AU commission chief Alpha Oumar Konare, who said Sudan must cease aerial bombardments in the troubled region.
The Sudanese government “should stop the bombardments and massacres” in Darfur, Konare told African heads of state, echoing remarks made by Ban ahead of his arrival in Ethiopia.
Ban’s meeting with Bashir is expected to be particularly tense after the former South Korean foreign minister held the president personally responsible for recent Darfur violence.
“I would urge him to cease all his bombings and attacks on civilians,” the UN chief said on Sunday.
Human rights groups have expressed outrage at the idea of Khartoum assuming the presidency of the 53-member African Union given its record in Darfur.
The conflict has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 200 000 people and displaced nearly 2,5-million people since 2003, according to UN figures disputed by Khartoum.
The UN wants to send troops to bolster a struggling AU peacekeeping force already in Darfur but Khartoum is trying to limit the UN presence to a supporting role.
UN sources said they expected Sudan would be more amenable to pressure if it is elected to chair the AU, believing a diplomatic snub would merely leave it even more isolated.
Talks have been taking place behind closed-doors about a possible alternative to Sudan, which put its leadership ambitions on hold last year and backed down after intense international pressure.
Bashir told Agence France-Presse there would be “no problem” if Sudan were not elected chairperson, marking a significant change of tone in previous statements from his top lieutenants.
“If they don’t allow it to us, it is no problem. We have not discussed about it yet but we will. The issue is not yet resolved.”
The President of Sudan’s arch-rival Chad, Idriss Déby Itno, told reporters he did not believe Khartoum had any chance of becoming chairperson.
“To give the presidency of the AU to Sudan is not going to happen,” he said.
While the United States has been fiercely critical of the Sudanese government, a top US official attending the AU summit as an observer declined to give Washington’s assessment of the wrangling.
“It is up to the African leaders to decide,” said US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer.
In his speech to the summit, Ban is also expected to stress “the central importance” of a joint international effort to end the crisis in Darfur and the danger of a spillover into a wider area.
Konare, meanwhile, used his speech also as an opportunity to urge more countries to join a planned peacekeeping mission to Somalia, warning of chaos if the force was not deployed rapidly.
The African Union has given the green light to a force of nearly 8 000 troops to go to Somalia but only three countries — Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria — have so far committed troops.
Konare said that it was vital that a transitional government which recently ousted hardline Islamists from Mogadishu with the help of Ethiopian intervention pursue reconciliation and a lasting solution in a country which has known no central authority for the last 16 years.
“If the troops go to Somalia without a genuine political solution then we will become occupation troops,” he said. – Sapa-AFP