The African Union will on Monday hold a special summit in Libya on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Moammar Gadaffi’s coup to discuss the restive continent’s trouble spots.
The 53-nation bloc accepted its current chairperson Gadaffi’s proposal in July to hold the summit ahead of celebrations marking his regime’s four decades in power.
Monday’s meeting will be the AU’s third summit this year. The bloc normally holds biannual summits.
”We’ll try to focus on all conflict situations. We believe that we can move forward in terms of peace and discussions,” the AU’s peace and security council chief Ramtane Lamamra said, singling out Somalia.
Hardline Islamist rebels launched a sweeping onslaught in Mogadishu in May against the government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, reducing his reach to only a handful of areas with the backing of AU peacekeepers.
Lamamra called for a boost for the AU’s beleaguered peacekeeping mission in the lawless Horn of Africa country currently comprising about 5 000 troops.
”I hope attending countries will heed the call. There should be a willingness to contribute to, not just Somalia, but to all of our peace support operations,” he said.
The bloc’s peacekeepers are also facing tough challenges in Sudan’s Darfur region and its joint peacekeeping force with the United Nations has been plagued by funding and equipment shortfalls.
About 300 000 people have died in the conflict with 2,7-million displaced, according to the UN, but Sudan’s government puts the number much lower at 10 000 killed.
The summit is also expected to review the political deadlocks in Guinea and Madagascar, where governments were toppled despite strong opposition from the AU.
Latest talks to resolve the Indian Ocean island’s crisis ended on Friday without reaching an agreement on the make-up of a transitional government to lead the country out of its political turmoil.
However, Madagascar’s power-brokers have given themselves a week to name the leaders of an interim government.
”The strong actions led by the AU with international community has produced positive results in Mauritania and is likely to produce the same in Madagascar and Guinea,” Lamamra said.
”The summit will discuss those issues. Overall there is a positive and constructive trend within Africa towards solving these problems.”
The African leaders are also expected to endorse a common stance on climate change, seeking billions of dollars in compensation from industrialised nations.
According to the UN Environment Programme, between 75-million and 250-million people in Africa may face water shortages by 2020.
It also estimates that up to R50-billion would be needed every year to cope with the effects of climate change in Africa. – Sapa