Darfur Conflict Dominates Africa Summit

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is projected onto a screen as he addresses dignitaries, Monday, Jan. 29, 2007 during the opening of the 8th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. An African Union summit opened in Ethiopia Monday, with Sudan coming under increasing international pressure to resolve the worsening violence in Darfur.(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo) (Karel Prinsloo - AP)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region dominated the African Union summit Monday, undermining Sudan's bid to lead the bloc as the U.N. chief said scorched-earth military policies are "a terrifying feature of life" in the vast, arid area.

With Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looking on, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "the toll of the crisis remains unacceptable," with more than 200,000 people killed and 2.5 million displaced in four years of fighting.

He called on African leaders to end the deadlock created by Sudan's refusal to allow U.N. peacekeepers into Darfur.

Hours later, in a rebuff to al-Bashir, the African Union chose Ghana to head the 53-member bloc, turning aside Sudan's bid for the post for the second year in a row.

"By consensus vote, President (John) Kufuor of Ghana has been elected to the presidency of the African Union," Alpha Oumar Konare, the AU's chief executive, told reporters at the session in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

Konare said Sudan supported the decision, but Sudanese leaders had been adamant that their country deserved the rotating chairmanship.

"This is a very unfortunate development," Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq said in Khartoum, Sudan. "The African heads of states had committed to this last year. That they changed their mind shows there was heavy pressure from outside Africa."

Sudan had pushed to get the post at last year's summit, which it hosted, but African leaders selected Republic of Congo's president in a compromise deal in which he would hold it for a year and then hand it over to al-Bashir.

But that deal hinged on Sudan demonstrating progress in bringing peace to Darfur. Instead of calming, Darfur's violence in recent months has spilled into neighboring Chad and Central African Republic.

International organizations opposed Sudan leading the AU, accusing al-Bashir's government of encouraging conflict in Darfur. Rebel leaders in the region said they would stop considering an AU peacekeeping mission as an honest broker if Sudan was selected.

Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu also sharply criticized Sudan on Monday, and a French aid group said it was pulling out of western Sudan because of insecurity. Six other international charities said Sunday that their work in Darfur will soon be paralyzed unless urgent action is taken.

Darfur has been spiraling out of control since rebels from ethnic African farm communities took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government in 2003.