Darfur crisis major challenge to AU

The 42nd Day of the African Union (AU) is being marked today. African states will celebrate the African Union’s success, including efforts to build peaceful and successful states. The main focus of AU will be the conflict that has unfolded in Darfur since the beginning of 2003. AU recognizes that Darfur crisis as the biggest challenge posed it has faced since it was launched in Durban, South Africa, in July 2002. The Organisation of African Unity was set up in 1963 before it was transformed into the AU.

The British secretary of state for International Development, Mr Hilary Benn, is reported to have said the BBC would devote 24 hours of radio broadcasts to Africa. “It will see The Archers, our 54 year-old soap opera, replaced for a day by Urunanan, its Rwnadan equivalent,” the secretary said.

Like the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the situation in Darfur is perceived as a test of the AU’s and the international community’s capacity to resolve African conflicts.