Sudan’s bid for chairmanship dominates African summit
Jan 23, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — African leaders 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.
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 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 on Monday.
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 some 40 heads of states in attendance at a conference center 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 African 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 UN to take over its command.
The two-day summit attended among other by South African President Thabo Mbeki, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, participants is to look at ways to address conflicts across the continent.
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.
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.
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.
(ST)