Top Africans gather in Gabon

2005-01-10 07:58

Libreville - Many of Africa's most powerful leaders were assembled in the Gabon capital of Libreville on Monday to discuss some of the continent's deep-rooted conflicts, including the ongoing crisis in the Ivory Coast.

The two-day meeting is the first of the African Union's 15-member Peace and Security Council at the head-of-state level, and reflects the AU's concern about the festering crises that jeopardise security and economic progress on the continent.

The Ivory Coast conflict will be high on the agenda at the gathering, which will give the leaders the opportunity to assess efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate an end to the bitter conflict which has divided the country since 2002.

"He will outline the nature of the crisis, explain where things stand, what has been done, and he will launch a debate about where the process should go from here," Mbeki's spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said on Friday.

In all, the summit brings together about 30 heads of state, counting both the members of the peace and security council and invitees, including the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila. The situation in his country, where there have been clashes in the volatile eastern provinces, will be discussed by the leaders.

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo was reported to have turned down an invitation to attend. But President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso is scheduled to attend the summit meeting as an invited guest. Burkina Faso has a stake in the Ivory Coast dispute because much of its population has emigrated there.

'Internal' crisis

The Ivory Coast government regularly accuses Burkina Faso of supporting the rebels who have controlled the northern part of the country since an abortive rebellion in September, 2002. Burkina Faso denies these accusations, and says that the Ivory Coast crisis is of internal origin.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current head of the African Union, was among the first to arrive for the summit meeting on Sunday.

Also high on the agenda is the situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which has been wracked since February 2003 by conflict between the Arabic government in Khartoum, largely represented by local Arab militias, and two rebel groups fighting for the rights of the black African peoples of the region.

The conflict has claimed at least 70 000 lives and driven 1.6 million people from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Sudan's government and rebels in the south signed a long-awaited peace accord on Sunday. Officials suggested that this could be used as a model for resolving the Darfur crisis.

- AFP