African leaders convene in Libya

SIRTE, Libya — African leaders and Brazil’s president called for greater cooperation to boost peace and development efforts as the 13th African Union summit of heads of state opened Wednesday.

The leaders had a host of issues to address, including coups and civil wars to the backlash of the economic crisis and the challenges of global warming.

Several high-profile guests to the summit stayed home at the last minute, including Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

A visit by Ahmadinejad would have been one of his first major public appearances since his troubled re-election in June, which was marred by turbulent streets protests, police violence and claims of massive fraud.

The AU summit’s host, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, said his Italian “friend” had called up to excuse himself. He made no comment on the Egyptian and Iranian’s absence.

African diplomats at the summit in the coastal town of Sirte, east of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said several delegates had been frustrated with Gadhafi for inviting Ahmadinejad without consulting the AU’s managing bodies. Some complained the Iranian leader would have diverted the conference’s attention from Africa’s pressing problems.

Though the summit’s official theme is agriculture, “unfolding events tend to catch up with us,” AU executive chairman Jean Ping told The Associated Press.

“Our works are taking place amid an unprecedented global economic crisis and an increase of grave political tensions and persistent conflicts in Africa,” Ping also said in his speech at the opening session.

Africa’s situation is “worrying,” Ping said, listing recent coups in Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau, as well as unrest in Niger, a crisis in Mauritania, tensions between North Sudan and the South as well as the western Darfur regions.

On Tuesday, the AU Executive Council announced it was lifting sanctions against Mauritania despite the coup there 10 months ago. The sanctions could be enforced again if the presidential election due July 18 isn’t considered fair. Mauritania has been ruled by a military junta since August.

African diplomats also say the AU is considering an increase of the 4,300-strong force it sent to Somalia, where the peacekeepers are struggling to contain a civil-war, Islamist radicals and increased piracy.

Gadhafi’s answer to these challenges has been a drive in recent days to jump-start African unity and boost the AU’s power, aiming at the creation of a “United States of Africa.” Among his other proposals was an offer for Caribbean island nations with large populations of African descent to join the AU.

Propped by vast oil reserves, Gadhafi has a history of intervening throughout the continent. The founding figure of the AU — launched 10 years ago in Sirte, his native town — and Africa’s longest serving head of state, the Libyan leader was addressed as “king of kings” by the traditional rulers and tribal chiefs he’d invited to the summit Wednesday.

His proposed creation of an African Defense Council is one of the items on the summit’s official agenda. Other items include fighting desertification, boosting agriculture, and reaching a common position before the U.N. negotiations on climate change.

African diplomats say the continent’s wealthier states, led by South Africa, are weary of the large powers Gadhafi wants to give the AU.

Ping, the AU chairman, denied there was any tension. “The United States of Africa remains an ultimate goal accepted by all; the debate is simply how fast to reach it,” he told The AP.

He also played down another item on the summit’s agenda regarding the “abuse of the principle of universal jurisdiction.” This issue is believed to have been raised by Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, who faces an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Ping said that the AU summit’s final statement would certainly not reach “dramatic or binding conclusions” for African states who are party to the ICC. “Though it is true that African heads of state are tired are being the only ones targeted” by the ICC, Ping said.

The AU chairman also announced during the opening session that Africa would sign three cooperation agreements with Brazil during the summit, focusing on agriculture and social development.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was among the most high-profile guests, along with the emir of Qatar and the head of the Arab League, who both called for enhanced cooperation between Africans and Arabs.

In his speech to delegates, he said Brazil would help deliver a “green revolution” in African agriculture and drive efforts to boost cooperation between southern countries.

“This is the only way we (developing nations) will become major players and not just victims of the changes under way” worldwide, Lula da Silva told the AU assembly.