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Darfur scuppers Sudan's bid for AU leadership

The bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur dominated an African Union (AU) summit on Monday, undermining Sudan's bid to lead the continental bloc as the UN chief condemned the scorched-earth policies in a region where bombings and killings are "a terrifying feature of life."

With Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir looking on, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "the toll of the crisis remains unacceptable." More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced since 2003. He called on African leaders to end the deadlock created by Sudan's refusal to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur.

Hours later, in a further humiliation to al-Bashir, the AU chose Ghana to head the 53-member bloc, turning aside Sudan's bid 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," AU chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare told reporters in Addis Ababa.

Konare said Sudan supported the decision, but Sudanese leaders had been adamant -- even up to Sunday evening -- that they deserved the rotating chairmanship.

"This is a very unfortunate development," Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Sadiq said in Khartoum. "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 obtain the post at last year's summit, which it hosted, but African leaders selected the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in a compromise deal in which he would hold it for a year and then hand it over to al-Bashir. But the deal hinged on Sudan demonstrating progress in bringing peace to Darfur.

Instead of calming, Darfur's violence in recent months has spilled into Chad and the Central African Republic.

International organizations have opposed Sudan leading the AU, accusing the Sudanese government of taking part in the Darfur conflict.

Rebel leaders in the Sudanese region have said they would stop considering the current AU peacekeeping mission as an honest broker there if Sudan was selected.

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

Darfur has been spiraling out of control since rebels took up arms against the central government in 2003. The Sudanese government is accused of retaliating indiscriminately against civilians and supporting janjaweed paramilitary groups blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the conflict. Khartoum denies the allegations.

The Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with one Darfur rebel faction in May, but violence has only worsened since.

Sudan and Chad also have been trading accusations of supporting each others' rebel groups.

Al-Bashir has opposed a UN Security Council resolution that calls for some 22,000 UN peacekeepers to replace or absorb an African force. The AU has 7,000 peacekeepers struggling to end the fighting.

But late on Monday in Khartoum, Sadiq said Sudan had agreed to cooperate on a "hybrid force" for Darfur, including UN troops.

But he said no final agreement on the troop numbers had been reached, although AU and UN officials say the UN could be sending as many as 10,000 to 15,000. Sadiq said UN troops could begin deploying in July.

Sudan has in the past reneged on agreements to allow the UN in and al-Bashir -- who has the final say on such matters -- was not immediately available for comment on Monday. Ban released a statement on Monday saying al-Bashir had agreed to "accelerate" efforts to create such a force.
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