AU summiteers in Accra referred only in passing to obstacles blocking efforts on peacekeeping and ending wars. AU Chairman Alpha Oumar Konaré questioned the Sudan government’s commitment to peace in Darfur. ‘It is important that Sudan ends the bombardments.’ President Omer el Beshir didn’t attend the summit, unconvincingly citing the death of an aide in Khartoum. Also absent was Somalia’s President Abdullahi Yusuf, to the frustration of the Somaliland government, whose Foreign Minister, Abdillahi Duale, had travelled to Accra for the summit. Abdillahi and his President Dahir Rayale Kahin are making good progress in winning support for the AU to recognise Somaliland. This year, Somaliland has strengthened ties with Ethiopia, which has traditionally been sceptical about Somaliland’s claims to independent statehood. From Mogadishu, President Abdullahi argues that the AU should take no decisions on the recognition of Somaliland before the outcome of Somalia’s national reconciliation conference. For the Hargeisa government, that is the pretext for more AU procrastination as international support grows sharply for the recognition of Somaliland – and another demonstration of the pressing short term agenda before the AU as it works out its longer term raison d’être.