Vice-President attends AU Summit in Libya

Vice-President John Dramani Mahama

The Vice-President John Dramani Mahama is in the Libyan capital Tripoli to attend a Special African Union (AU) Summit of Heads of State and Government delegations from 30th August 2009 to 3rd September 2009.

According to a press statement signed by the spokesperson of the Vice-President John Abdulai Jinapor, Mr Mahama, who is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, is representing the President, John Evans Atta Mills.

The Summit, which is at the instance of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is also the Chairman of the AU, is ostensibly for talks on conflict resolution on the African continent, an idea floated at the last African Summit by Mr. Gadhafi, which was held in Sirte-Libya about two months ago.

At the last meeting, Heads of the Africa Union endorsed a proposal to hold a special session on conflict situations in Africa given the many crises the continent is facing, in pursuant to this noble objective, Tripoli was chosen as the host city to review the conflict situations on the continent.

The summit agenda touches on what are considered as Africa's three major conflict hotspots, Darfur, Somalia and the Great Lakes region, including the Democratic Republic of Congo. The summit sidelines will also feature meetings promoting trade within the continent.

This special summit would coincide with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya which brought the Libyan leader to power in 1969.