AU summit begins with dispute over leader

The African Union (AU) summit opened in Addis Ababa on Sunday and faced an immediate rift over Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's likely bid to retain the leadership of the organisation.

But the 53-member body's annual meeting at the Addis Ababa headquarters looked set to be hijacked by one of its most controversial leaders.

Gaddafi was elected almost by default a year ago but set the tone for his tenure by claiming to be the "king of kings" and vowing to achieve the "United States of Africa" project he has championed for years.

"Gaddafi's chairmanship has been very harmful to the AU's image, notably in the handling of political crises such as Madagascar and Guinea," said an official close to Jean Ping, who heads the body's main executive arm.

The system of rotating regional blocs should hand the job to a southern African leader and a consensus had begun to emerge around Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, but some diplomats fear Gaddafi will put up a fight.

"It is said that Gaddafi is determined to take this to a vote because he thinks enough countries will support him," an AU official said.

The summit's official theme is information technology and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was expected to highlight the importance of putting the Millennium Development Goals back on their 2015 target.