Conflict issues to dominate upcoming African Union summit

ADDIS ABABA, June 24, 2004 (dpa) — The 2004 annual summit of the African Union (AU) would be dominated by conflicts in the Sudanese region of Darfur, Cote d’Ivoire, Burundi and Somalia, a senior AU official said Thursday.

Ambassador Sam Ibok, director of peace and security within the AU, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the agenda of the July 6-8 summit will also include the establishment by 2005 of regional brigades in three of the five regions of Africa.

The brigades would be ready to be deployed by the AU in response to crisis situations.

Also among the political issues that Ibok said he expected to dominate the summit was the unfinished peace process of the Ethiopian-Eritrean border conflict.

A series of preparatory gatherings for the summit kicks off Friday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa with a meeting of the Permanent Representatives’ Committee, a body composed of ambassadors of member states accredited to the AU Commission.

The four-day meeting of the Committee would look into the agenda of the 5th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council (foreign ministers).

Taking place June 30 to July 3, it is slated to review political, social, institutional and administrative matters of the AU deemed essential for consideration by the summit.