Somalia, Darfur top agenda at Africa summit

By Barry Moody

BANJUL (Reuters) – The rise to power of Islamists in
Somalia and Sudan’s Darfur crisis top the agenda at a summit of
Africa’s leaders in Gambia this weekend, but there seems little
chance of much progress on either issue.

The six-monthly meeting of the 53 members of the African
Union is likely to be dominated by the twin crises in northeast
Africa but it was clear after the preparatory meeting of
foreign ministers this week that there were severe obstacles to
a breakthrough on either issue.

In Darfur the African Union wants to hand over peacekeeping
duties from its own understrength, under-resourced force of
7,000 troops to United Nations soldiers by September 30.

But on Thursday Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
who is expected for the two-day summit, issued the latest in a
series of uncompromising rejections of a U.N. deployment.

“We will not allow international troops under the U.N. to
deploy in Darfur,” Bashir said in an open-air speech attended
by thousands of people in Khartoum.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who calls Bashir’s
position “incomprehensible,” will try to change the Sudanese
leader’s mind at a meeting during the summit.

But Western and African diplomats in Banjul said that
despite widespread revulsion over the deaths of tens of
thousands of people in Darfur, the international community had
hardly any leverage to induce Bashir to change his mind.

The African force is trying to protect more than 2 million
refugees in western Sudan and monitor a faltering ceasefire
between rebels, government forces and their Janjaweed militia
allies who are accused of massacres, rape and pillage.

SOMALIA

There seems no more chance of doing anything about Somalia,
where Islamists ejected secular, U.S.-backed warlords from
Mogadishu on June 5 and now control a large swathe of the
country.

Despite the power of the Islamists, who this week said they
would extend the authority of sharia courts throughout Somalia,
the AU said it would not deal directly with them. The Islamist
side is apparently not even present at the summit.

Somalia’s weak but internationally recognised interim
government is here, but says the takeover of the Islamist
leadership by hardline factions has thrown into doubt talks
later this month intended to defuse rising tension between the
two sides.

The summit is also likely to see some vituperative
anti-American rhetoric from two non-African leaders, special
guests Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of
Iran.

Gambia’s invitation to the two presidents has caused
consternation among Western diplomats present as observers in
Banjul. They said the invitation may reflect a drive by Africa
to show its independence of the West and assert a more
strategic world role.