AU to focus on hotspots
2004-07-08 19:56
Addis Ababa - Leaders from across Africa ended a summit here on Thursday on a note of determination, agreeing to tackle the crisis in the Sudanese region of Darfur and other hotspots as part of a wider undertaking to promote peace and stability.
The "hard-hitting" discussions on Darfur, the Great Lakes and Ivory Coast during the three-day gathering of the African Union (AU) "demonstrate our determination to be pro-active on our continents problems", Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the chairman of the 53-member African Union (AU) said at the summits closure.
"Resolving conflicts is central to the future of our organisation and the attainment of our objective to deliver integration and development to Africa", he said.
"The first preoccupation of the AU is to deliver peace, security and stability. For the rest, development, we will not be able to make progress unless we have peace," he later told reporters.
"Departure of non-interventionist policy"
AU Commission chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare told journalists he hoped a planned 300-strong armed force to protect AU observers in Darfur would be deployed by the end of the month.
He also said the AU had called on Khartoum to stop deadly bombing raids in Darfur.
This attitude marks a clear departure of the non-interventionist policy of the Organisation of African Unity, which the AU replaced in 2002.
"We can say with certainty that the responsibility for Darfur is with the African Union and the government of Sudan working together," Obasanjo told a press conference after the summits closing ceremony.
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.
- SAPA