The African Union’s annual summit in Ethiopia has got off to bad start for Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi.
He has failed in his attempt to stay on as chairman of the bloc for another year after African leaders chose Malawi’s president to succeed him.
Delegates then turned their attention to a call to help victims of the quake in Haiti by agreeing to consider a Senegalese proposal to resettle victims.
There were also discussions about Sudan and Somalia and what can be done to persuade the UN to take over peacekeeping duties.
The AU has maintained more than 5,000 troops in the war-torn country since 2007.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who opened the conference, also urged delegates to make a renewed effort to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which include reducing poverty, disease and child mortality, ahead of their target date of 2015.
Copyright © 2010 euronews
Tags: African Union, Malawi, Muammar Gaddafi
Gaddafi at last year's African Union summit, where he became president.
File photo of Mutharika, who is taking the presidency.
Muammar Gaddafi, leader of Libya, has not been able to win his bid to stay as chairman of the African Union, losing out to Malawian president , who was backed by several eastern and southern states.

Gaddafi used his final speech to highlight the need for political unity between African states. Libya has been chairing the African Union for the last year, and the job of chair was due to go to a southern African representative. However, Gaddafi wished to retain the presidency, which was backed by Tunisia, and had allegedly won over other countries by paying their membership fees.

The African Union summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, involved a speech to the African leaders by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who called for the countries to strive for national union in Sudan, where the southern part of the country may secede from the north.  In addition, the Secretary General highlighted the various achievements of the African Union. He said that they had "seen a sharp decrease in malaria and measles deaths across the continent, virtual gains in primary school enrolment and marked improvement in child health", stating that "we must build on these successes and help spread them around the world".

The three-day summit involves topics such as the state of affairs in Somalia, and a Senegalese proposal to resettle Haiti earthquake victims.