Gaddafi pushes for power at helm of African Union

COLONEL Muammar al-Gaddafi, the leader of Libya, was yesterday elected as leader of the African Union, a position long sought by the eccentric dictator pushing his oil-rich nation into the international mainstream after years of isolation.

Some African leaders offered tepid praise for the choice of Col Gaddafi, who grabbed power in a 1969 coup. Rights groups called him a poor model for Africa at a time when democratic gains are being reversed in countries such as Mauritania and Guinea.

Once ostracised by the West for sponsoring terrorism, Col Gaddafi has been trying to increase Libya's presence on the global stage and its regional influence – mediating African conflicts, sponsoring efforts to spread Islam on the continent and pushing for the creation of a single African government.

Col Gaddafi told about 20 of his fellow heads of state that he would work to unite the continent into "the United States of Africa".

The chairmanship of the African Union is a rotating position for one year and gives the holder some influence over the continent's politics, but carries no real power.

Diplomats who attended the closed-door meetings in which Col Gaddafi was chosen said several countries vigorously opposed him, seeking alternatives from Lesotho and Sierra Leone.

However, the AU's chairmanship rotates among Africa's regions, and a North African had not chaired the continental body since 2000, when Algeria held the post. Meetings to select the chairman are held in private. The leader is usually nominated and then chosen by consensus.

Even in public the reception to Col Gaddafi's appointment was measured.

"I think his time has come," Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian president, said.

"He's worked for it. I think it's up to us to make sure it comes out best."

Since he seized power, Col Gaddafi has ruled the oil-rich state with an iron hand and the often quixotic ideology laid out in his famous "Green Book," which outlines his anti-democratic and economic policies.

In 2007, his regime released five Bulgarian nurses and a naturalised Palestinian doctor after eight years in prison for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV. They were released following a deal struck by the European Union that involved payment of millions of dollars in aid to Libya.

"The Libyan government continues to imprison people for criticising Gaddafi," said Reed Brody, a Brussels-based lawyer with Human Rights Watch who watched Col Gaddafi take the helm of the AU.

"Hundreds more have been 'disappeared.' Libya has no independent NGOs and the government tightly controls all forms of public expression."

Following the Lockerbie bombing in 1988, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Libya and Britain and the United States broke all diplomatic ties.

Col Gaddafi renounced terrorism in 2003 and Libya has paid out over a billion dollars to the families of the Lockerbie victims.

Libya has also entered into deals with major oil companies for exploitation of its reserves and re-established diplomatic ties with the UK and the US.

Col Gaddafi has also been involved in mediating the conflict in Darfur, with little success. He has mediated between Chad and Sudan – both have accused each other of supporting the other's rebel groups.

The Libyan leader's mediation has resulted in deals between Chad and Sudan, which have later been violated.

Libya has never held the chairmanship in the 46-year-history of the African Union and its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity.

This contributed to Col Gaddafi being denied the chairmanship of the Organisation of African Unity in 1982.