ETHIOPIA: African leaders meet in Ethiopian capital with Somalia and Darfur featuring high on the agenda; Italian PM Romano Prodi also attends

As African leaders begin arriving in Ethiopia's capital on Sunday (January 28) a divisive battle over Sudan's bid to chair the African Union despite wide criticism of its actions in Darfur is set to overshadow a two-day summit of the organisation starting on Monday (January 29). Delay in members contributing troops to help stabilise Somalia will also feature highly on the agenda. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi wants to see troops Also among the delegates, is Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. deployed well before the March date set by the African Union. African leaders arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday (January 28) ahead of a African Union (AU) summit. Also attending was Italy's Foreign Minister Romano Prodi. The meeting is due to discuss raising a peacekeeping force for Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops, unrest in Guinea and climate change, as well as an AU military mission in Darfur, but diplomats say much of the debate will be dominated by Sudan. The chairmanship, usually a protocol decision, will this year test the credibility of the pan-African body amid deep divisions over the suitability of Sudan's candidacy when abuses continue in its western Darfur region, diplomats say. Sudan says the AU must reject Western pressure and stick to a promise made to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir a year ago when he was passed over for the chairmanship because of the violence in Darfur, which experts estimate has killed 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes. Washington describes what is happening in Darfur as genocide but Khartoum says Western media have exaggerated the killing. Chad has vowed to withdraw from the AU if Sudan takes the chair. Chadian-Sudanese relations have deteriorated badly as Darfur's conflict spilled into eastern Chad. Sudanese officials say Khartoum could itself withdraw if Bashir was rejected and the AU would lose all credibility if it did not stand by its decision a year ago. Meeting ahead of the summit, foreign ministers adopted a draft resolution saying Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia, ousting Islamists who had threatened the interim government, had created an unprecedented opportunity for peace. The AU is trying to raise finance and pledges of troops for a nearly 8,000-strong African peacekeeping force. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters a third of his troops should have left by Sunday and he wanted the remainder out within weeks. "Well the African Union is suggesting that the troops should be deployed by March, early March - I see no reason why the first African Union troops could not be deployed significantly earlier, lets say by mid February," said Meles. The Somali government faces a huge task to tame one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria have pledged troops. Mozambique, Ghana and others are considering taking part.

ITN Source | January 29, 2007

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