AU chief urges Kenya resolution

Kofi Annan (l) attempts to mediate discussions between Mwai Kibaki (c) and Raila Odinga (29 January 2008)
Kenya's feuding leaders may not be meeting over tea in Addis Ababa
The crisis in Kenya is expected to dominate an African Union summit starting in Addis Ababa.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki is among more than 40 heads of state gathering in the Ethiopian capital for the three-day meeting.

But opposition leader Raila Odinga, who says he won last month's presidential election, has not been invited.

The AU chairman said it was up to Africa to help Kenya resolve a dispute that has spiralled into violence.

"Today it is the responsibility of the African Union to solve this problem," said Alpha Konare.

He was referring to the inter-tribal violence that has killed more than 800 Kenyans in the past month, and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Mr Konare also criticised the 53-member union for not doing enough to address issues in Africa and around the world.

No 'blank cheque'

While the billed theme of this year's summit is industrialization, Kenya is likely to be a focal topic.

Jendayi Frazer, the top US envoy to Africa on Wednesday described the forced removal of people from Kenya's Rift Valley as ethnic cleansing.


The (Kenyan) government will not be given a blank cheque at this summit
AU Commission member

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is expected to tell the organisation of the need for a peaceful compromise in a country whose stability is seen as key for the region.

"The Kenyan crisis is a serious one and we cannot simply condone what the Kibaki regime is trying to feed us," one member of the AU commission told the AFP news agency.

"The government will not be given a blank cheque at this summit."

Sudan and Somalia

The AU's peacekeeping operations in Sudan and Somalia are also expected to be on the agenda.

The AU and the United Nations have promised to create the world's largest peacekeeping force in Darfur to replace the troubled region's current undermanned and under-equipped AU force.

Mr Ban is expected to arrive in Addis Ababa for talks with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir about the proposed 26,000 hybrid force.

Peacekeeping in Somalia will also be on the agenda during the summit, as it was last year, with members keen to strengthen the small Ugandan and Burundian forces in the country.

But the AU is plagued by bureaucratic problems, says the BBC's Will Ross in Addis Ababa.

Scathing report

Our correspondent says much of the discussions this week in Ethiopia will focus on the internal workings of the AU - which has been described in its own report as dysfunctional.

The report described a poorly-functioning institution where senior officials in Addis Ababa were bogged down in bureaucracy while there was an unhealthy culture of colleagues not talking to each other.

The report noted 21 countries were more than a year behind with their payments to the AU, including Libya and Egypt.

If Kenya's inter-tribal violence is overlooked, our correspondent adds, it will not be the first time that urgent problems are sidestepped at such meetings.

At the last AU meeting six months ago, the whole three-day summit was dedicated to discussing the idea of a United States of Africa, with little time spent on sensitive issues such as peacekeeping in Darfur and Somalia and the crippling economic crisis in Zimbabwe.