Flicker of hope

In Abuja, this week, it was apparent that Africans are yearning to set their own agenda, writes Gamal Nkrumah

---

The fourth African Union (AU) summit took place in the Nigerian capital Abuja amid much pomp and fanfare. Still, Abuja 2005 was a solemn occasion. Judging from their statements and press releases, the leaders of the 53 member-state AU pledged to further advance sweeping political and economic reforms launched in Africa in the past few years. Africa's leaders also vowed to step up the continent's conflict resolution mechanisms at the end of the two-day summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Click to view caption

African leaders pose at the venue of the African Union summit in Abuja, Nigeria. The leaders agreed to work together to overcome the problems afflicting the continent

It was clear that African leaders had gathered in Abuja to hammer out solutions to the continent's many problems. They were, it appeared, acutely aware that the path ahead is fraught with difficulties.

Africa's press pundits expressed the hope that the AU summit would spur political and economic reform in the continent.

President Hosni Mubarak who attended the Abuja 2005 summit -- his first in a decade -- proposed three initiatives relating to advancing socio- economic development in Africa, fighting pandemic diseases ravaging the continent and stepping-up policy coordination among African countries.

In Abuja, Africa's leaders drafted resolutions -- including two proposals to boost Africa's representation at the United Nations Security Council -- and discussed mounting health and security concerns on the continent, the world's poorest. It was a daunting agenda.

The Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's revolutionary oratorio was alas not performed in Abuja 2005. He was conspicuously absent from this year's AU summit, in spite of the fact that he worked so tirelessly to create the pan-African organisation.

The host, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who has been instrumental in mediating peace talks between the Sudanese government and armed opposition groups in the war-torn Sudanese province of Darfur, has had his term serving as chairman of the African Union extended by another six months until next January.

African leaders meeting in Abuja voted to extend Obasanjo's term in office in order to help him focus on his mediation efforts between the Sudanese government on the one hand and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Darfur's two main armed opposition groups, on the other hand. The extension of Obasanjo's term in office as AU chairman, Africa's leaders reckoned, would also give him enough time to fine-tune the continent's endeavours to secure two permanent seats at the UN Security Council.

Nigeria, after all, is the main contributor to peace-keeping operations in Africa and has the largest peace monitoring force in Darfur.

Although the two sides did not agree to a formal cease-fire, they are expected to continue with the talks in Abuja later this month. The AU leaders concurred that Khartoum must accept that indefinite tension and instability is untenable. The Darfur armed opposition groups must also refine their negotiating tactics and stop making unrealistic demands on the Sudanese government.

The two sides seemed serious about finding a solution to a war in which thousands of civilians and combatants have been killed. The obvious compromise, a form of enhanced autonomy backed by revenues from oil and other natural gas resources of Darfur as well as international development aid.

On the eve of the summit, a UN report was released absolving the Sudanese authorities of direct responsibility for genocide in Darfur. The United States, however, disputed the report with US officials condemning Sudan's human rights record. Washington also damned the aerial bombardment of villages in Darfur by the Sudanese air force in January.

The process of reconciliation in Sudan would be greatly helped by a clear signal from the US that it will not openly take sides in the Sudanese conflict. The Sudanese authorities played along, but the US is widely seen as being biased against Khartoum, and systematically sympathising with the insurrectionists.

Yet it is essential to bring genuine representatives of the people of Darfur and other marginalised communities in the east and the far north of the country into the government -- and more importantly -- into the constitutional drafting process if the insurgencies in the outlying parts of the far-flung country, Africa's largest, are to be contained.

There has rarely been a better chance to end one of Africa's most intractable conflicts. And, the three most influential countries on the continent -- Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa -- are working in tandem to resolve the Sudanese crisis.

Egypt, South Africa and Nigeria are pushing for two permanent African seats with veto powers at the UN Security Council. The three countries are the strongest contenders for permanent seats at the UN Security Council.

In Abuja, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the slaughter in Darfur and urged the Sudanese authorities to bring the perpetrators of the atrocities in Darfur to book. His remarks sparked indignation in Khartoum. But Alpha Oumar Konare, former Malian president and current chairman of the Commission of the AU, sang the praises of UN secretary-general describing him as a "valiant son of Africa". Konare paid tribute to "Annan the Nobel Peace laureate and twice- elected UN secretary-general." Annan flew to Abuja from Switzerland where he lobbied hard for African debt relief at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos.

Konare also commended the leader of the host nation President Obasanjo of Nigeria. "We are indeed indebted to you for the tremendous efforts you have been exerting in favour of the organisation."