African Union, in Libya summit, seeks bigger international role

Jul 1, 2009, 13:48 GMT

Sirte, Libya - Delegates from the 52 countries that make up the African Union on Wednesday sought to raise the body's role in international affairs at the start of a three-day summit in Libya.

African leaders gathered in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte to discuss 'investing in agriculture for food self-sufficiency,' but AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping said he hoped they could also raise the body's profile in resolving international disputes.

'Stature in the international community is not given by anyone,' Ping said in remarks carried by Libya's official JANA news agency. 'It has to be taken.'

'We are relieved that Africa has started to speak with one voice in international venues,' Ping said. 'This is the implementation of (Libyan leader Moamer) Gaddafi's vision.'

'Now we are in the same city, and the same hall, where we decided 10 years ago to establish the African Union in order to deal with the obstacles that face the continent and to push for ... development and stability,' he noted.

'Brother Moamer Gaddafi, President of the African Union and the King of Africa's traditional Kings, in the name of the Arab League, I'd like to salute you, and to hail your role in pushing the African Union's role,' Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told Gaddafi.

More than 200 African kings and traditional leaders bestowed the title of 'king of kings' on Gaddafi in a 2008 ceremony in Libya.

But Mussa's remarks may also have been a sly reference to Gaddafi's remarks at a March Arab League summit in Qatar.

'I am the king of African kings, Imam of the Muslims, leader of the nations and the rock of Arab leaders,' Gaddafi told Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at that meeting.

In Libya on Wednesday, Mussa held up AU-Arab League cooperation on such conflicts as Sudan and Somalia as examples, and said that the challenges facing the Arab and African worlds must be resolved through consultations.

The summit's focus on food and agriculture reflected an 'intelligent response to African societies' real needs, considering that almost 80 per cent of Africans depend on agriculture for their livelihoods,' Mussa said.

This year's summit, the African Union's thirteenth, had initially been scheduled to be held in Madagascar, but the island nation was stripped of its AU membership in March following political unrest there.