World’s troubles may steal the show at AU summit

The African Union (AU) faces two key challenges during its annual summit in Banjul this weekend, but they risk being overshadowed by the arrival of two of the world’s most talked about leaders. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are scheduled to attend the summit at the invitation of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh. All three leaders recently have clashed with the United States over separate issues: Ahmadinejad over Iran’s nuclear ambitions; Chavez over oil; and Jammeh over his country’s human rights record. Top of the agenda for the AU is to address the future of its peacekeeping forces in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, and how it will deal with calls for former Chadian President Hissene Habre to face trial for war crimes. Other issues to be discussed include Somalia and Chad, which has suffered the humanitarian fallout from Darfur. Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the summit, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan plans to meet with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to try to convince him to accept a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. ”I hope we will be able to discuss the Darfur issue with the president of Sudan, with the other leaders who have gathered in Banjul and, hopefully, come to some understanding as to how we move forward on the transition from the African Union force to the UN force,” Annan said. “I think that is important and it is essential that we do bring the discussions to closure and begin to move forward.” Annan said he would also ask the Security Council for authorization to beef up the AU force. The AU has said it does not foresee staying in Darfur beyond the end of its mandate at the end of September. . While in Banjul, Annan is also expected to host a mini-summit on Cote d’Ivoire. After the talks he is scheduled to travel to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and then to Ghana for a private visit. Also high on the AU agenda will be the fate of former Chadian President Hissene Habre, who has been living in exile in Senegal since 1990. A Senegalese court indicted Habre for war crimes in 2000 but ruled that he must be tried elsewhere. Habre’s alleged victims then turned to Belgium, where some of them lived, and Belgium indicted him last September. But Senegal’s courts said they were not competent to rule on his fate and turned the decision over to the AU. The AU chose seven jurists in June to study the Habre case and present recommendations at the AU summit. With former Liberian leader Charles Taylor currently under arrest facing trial, the AU ruling will be seen as key to efforts to bring former African leaders to account. Each year, the AU summit serves as a further test of the continent’s commitment to reform. The body seeks to replace the tenet of “non-interference” of its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, with the one of “non-indifference.” To that end, the AU has participated in several peacekeeping operations and stepped in to thwart unconstitutional attempts to gain power. The AU balked last year when the son of Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema attempted to step into his father’s shoes after the elder Eyadema’s sudden death. The son, Faure Gnassingbe, won hastily organized elections that were disputed. The AU, however, approved of the polls. Among the issues to be discussed next week will be the seizure of power of much of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, by an Islamist group. Human rights groups have criticized the AU for holding its summit in The Gambia, a country that international donors say has a poor human rights record and weak commitment to democratic reform. The AU is currently establishing an African Court on Human and People’s Rights, based in Arusha, Tanzania, comprised of 11 judges from around the continent. They will be sworn in during the summit. The court is not designed to try criminal cases or hold individuals accountable; its aim is to address human rights complaints against governments. cs/ccr