Africa holds 'silence the guns' summit as new conflicts grow

The annual African Union summit opened Sunday with leaders vowing that the AU would play a more prominent role in resolving conflicts proliferating across the continent.

The theme of the two-day summit is "Silencing the Guns".

The focus on conflicts marks a departure from multiple years of debate centred on reforming the AU -- including its funding structure -- and the implementation of a continent-wide free trade area.

In his opening remarks to assembled heads of state Sunday, AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat painted a bleak picture of the continent's security situation, citing "terrorism, intercommunal conflict and pre- and post-election crises".

He also noted that while some progress has been made recently in Central African Republic and Sudan, long-running conflicts in places such as Libya and South Sudan have been joined by new crises from Cameroon to Mozambique.

Faki stressed that it would take more than military action to address the "root causes" of African ...