OAU Extraordinary Summit Postponed

An extraordinary summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) has been postponed indefinitely, according to a release yesterday (Wednesday) from the office of OAU chairman President Blaise Compaore. The summit, scheduled for 30-31 March, was to have focused on the conflicts in several parts of the continent. According to the release, quoted by PANA, it was postponed because the required quorum could not be met. Last week, Blaise Compaore announced that rebels in Angola and in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) would be invited to the summit. This drew a strong reaction from Angola which, early Wednesday, urged other African countries to boycott the planned summit because UNITA rebel leader Jonas Savimbi had been invited to it. In a statement read out on Angolan TV, Angola’s government said it was “ridiculous to suggest that such a person should take part in an OAU summit, as it is publicly known that Jonas Savimbi is subject to international sanctions declared by the UN Security Council, preventing him from travelling to and being received in any country”. The meeting’s “real aim is to cleanse Jonas Savimbi’s image in view of his international isolation and overwhelming public condemnation of his warmongering and terrorist stance,” it said.