Muammar Gadhafi, president of Libya, takes over as the new chairman of the re-christened African Union Authority

A new leadership for the African Union, AU, emerged last week during its  extraordinary summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Muammar Gadhafi, Libyan president, was elected as the new AU chairman. He took over from Jakaya Kihwete, Tanzanian president, who held the position for the past one year. The AU chairmanship position was zoned to the North African nation during the summit because it was being made a rotating position to be held by heads of state for one year.

Gadhafi, in his inaugural speech, made it known that he would use his new position to work towards achieving a United States of Africa. He has long agitated for the United States of Africa, an idea dismissed by most member, of the union. Gadhafi’s leadership would be faced with several challenges in the African continent. At present, most countries are facing political problems that have resulted in hunger and starvation.

Madagascar is presently experiencing political violence. Soldiers have just taken over democratically elected governments in Mauritania and Guinea. There is also violence in Sudan and the possible indictment of Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese president, by the International Criminal Court, ICC.   Nonetheless some world leaders have indicated their interests to continue to work with the AU.

The United States of America, USA, said that it would continue to work with the AU despite Gadhafi’s position as the new chairman. Robert Wood, US State department spokesperson, said that the relationship between the USA and the AU would not be soured because Gadhafi had assumed its leadership. “In terms of working with the AU, we’re going to continue because we have a lot of interests and joint interest in terms of trying to bring peace and stability and economic development and delivery of humanitarian assistance to the continent where it’s needed. the AU is an important partner for us, it will continue to be and we will just have to see how it goes,” he said.

Relations between the USA and Gadhafi was strained some years back. In 1979, the USA accused Gadhafi of sponsoring terrorists. The 1988 bombing of a Pam Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, was believed to have been sponsored by Gadhafi’s government. But the two countries moved closer after Gadhafi agreed to pay restitution to families of the victims. Libya was removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism and full diplomatic relations was restored in 2006.  Sharif Sheik Ahmed, newly elected Somalia president, was the new comer to this year’s summit. He was warmly applauded at the summit’s opening ceremonies.

The summit ended last Wednesday with a resolution to rename the organization. it has changed from African Union to Africa Union Authority, AUA. The new chairman, in his closing message to the African leaders, said that the change of name was a significant step towards the achievement of Africa’s unity. “We Africans have only unity to gain strength, we live in a ruthless world, where the strong live and the weak are enslaved. I want to tell African youths that the power is theirs and that they should push for African unity,” he said.

Kgalema Motlantle, South African president, said that the change of name was meant to strengthen and expand a bit on the functions and responsibilities of the Authority.