Sudan’s Darfur tops agenda as African leaders wrap up summit in Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, July 8 (AFP) — The crisis in western Sudans Darfur region was Thursday at the heart of discussions as heads of state from across Africa wrapped up a three-day summit aimed at boosting their continents integration, stability and prosperity.
The presidents of Sudan, neighbouring Chad, Nigeria and South Africa held a meeting specifically on Darfur on Thursday morning on the sidelines of the two-year-old African Unions third summit-level gathering.
The conflict-ravaged region has emerged as a test case for the AUs new trouble-shooting Peace and Security Council (PSC).
It was agreed to push ahead as soon as possible with plans to send a 300-strong armed force to protect AU ceasefire observers already in Darfur region, described by the UN as the theatre of the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.
The conflict, involving rebels, government forces and their ruthless militia allies, has left more than 10,000 dead and forced more than a million people from their homes, many of them to squalid camps in Chad, which has played a mediating role in negotiations between Khartoum and two rebel groups who rose up in February 2003.
The massive displacement of people has also created a looming famine that US officials have warned will claim several hundred thousand lives.
Chadian Foreign Minister Nagoum Yassoum told journalists the AU protection force will number 300 men and the number of observers will be increased.
He said Rwanda, Senegal, Algeria and Namibia were among the countries approached to provide troops.
The idea of such an armed force was first mentioned in late May in an agreement on the AU mission to monitor a shaky April ceasefire signed by Khartoum and Darfur rebel groups who rose up in February 2003.
About 25 AU observers are already on the ground in Darfur, out of an eventual mission of more than 120.
The May agreement said the AU would deploy a protection force if local authorities proved unable to guarantee the security of the observers.
Sudan has raised no objections to such a deployment.
On Sunday, the PSC, a body similar to the UNs Peace and Security Council and which lies at the heart of the AUs determination to robustly tackle the continents crises, took a firm stance against Khartoum, urging it to follow through with its commitments to disarm and neutralize the Janjawid militia.
The Council also reiterated the need to bring to justice all those responsible for human rights abuses in Darfur.
On Wednesday, the summit approved an ambitious but costly plan for continental integration and prosperity, with an emphasis on peace and stability, but failed to endorse its 1.7 billion dollar price tag or agree how to fund the project.
The money, about 600 million dollars a year, is more than 10 times the 43 million dollar annual budget of the Organisation of African Unity that the AU, which styles itself on the European Union, replaced in 2002.
AU leading lights, such as Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare and presidents such as Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Obasanjo of Nigeria, the former and current chairmen of the AU, have worked hard over the last two years to thoroughly revamp the image and structure of the pan-continental body.
They have been equally keen to distance the AU from its predecessor, which had a reputation of being little more than a talking shop with a secretariat staffed by unqualified officials.
The New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD), is a central part of the AUs roadmap and was the focus of parallel discussions in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday.
Under this initiative, African states will work to attract investment, rather than simply aid, from rich countries in return for improving their record in governance, democracy and fighting corruption.
One of NEPADs central pillars is a peer review mechanism, whereby heads of state closely monitor the activities of their counterparts, an idea that would have been unthinkable under the OAUs sacred doctrine of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
Four states signed up to the mechanism during the summit, bring the total number on board to 22.