Kenya, Chad top summit agenda

2008-02-02 10:37

Addis Ababa - African Union leaders gathered in Ethiopia were set Saturday to discuss means of containing the violence in Kenya and Chad during a special meeting on the last day of their summit.

On Friday, the 53-state African Union said the meeting would group heads of state and government, to mull a response to the crises in Kenya, Chad and the Comoros.

As Chadian rebels on a major offensive clashed with government forces only 50km from the capital, N?djamena, officials attending the summit in Addis Ababa held a series of special meetings.

One high-ranking AU official said the fighting could have a serious impact on the deployment of a European peacekeeping force in Chad and of an African Union-United Nations contingent in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region.

"This attack means that everything is up in the air," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Darfur, Chad 'cannot be divorced'

The European Union announced on Friday that it was delaying the deployment of troops and equipment.

The so-called "hybrid force" being set up by the AU and UN in Darfur also faced fresh challenges, as the Chadian rebel attack was launched from Sudan, raising the prospect of instability along Darfur's border.

But as the top UN envoy in Sudan, Jan Eliasson, put it earlier: "Darfur and Chad cannot be divorced".

European ambassadors attending the AU summit also held a special meeting on Chad on Friday, after an opening day dominated by the crisis in Kenya.

African leaders and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday pressed Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his opposition rival Raila Odinga to do their utmost to quell post-election violence. The clashes had left about 1 000 dead.

800+ people killed

Odinga accused Kibaki of having stolen the December 27 presidential election. "In such situations, the accepted rule is to resort to the established constitutional mechanism," Kibaki said.

"Regrettably, although the election results reflected the will of the majority of Kenyans, the leaders in the opposition instigated a campaign of civil unrest that resulted in over 800 deaths," he said.

Saturday's meeting was also due to discuss the Comoros archipelago, where the AU had been seeking to bring about fresh elections in the rebel island of Anjouan.

Also on Friday, delegates elected Gabonese Foreign Minister Jean Ping to take over the chair of the AU commission.

"I know that he's a man of many qualities. He's capable of representing the whole of Africa," Libyan Minister for African Affairs Ali Triki said.

- AFP