Mbeki was received by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa for the African Union Summit

ADDIS ABABA, February 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The first summit of the newborn African Union opened Monday, February 3, in the presence of about 30 heads of state and government, with Ivory Coast's embattled President Laurent Gbagbo making the conspicuous absence. 

South African President Thabo Mbeki officially opened the African Union's (A.U.) first extraordinary summit, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

Others failing to attend the summit were Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Tanzania's Benjamin Mkapa. But President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, the initiator and main funder of the A.U., arrived in the Ethiopian capital.

Although the summit was primarily convened to fine-tune the Constitutive Act of the continental body that last year replaced the 38-year-old Organisation of African Unity (OAU), the summit’s agenda is also expected to include a number of burning issues, chief among which the potential U.S.-led war on Iraq and the civil conflict in Ivory Coast.

The summit is also expected to tackle the Long-term goals for the A.U.: the establishment of an African Economic Community in 2023 after regional blocs are integrated, and, eventually, a common African currency.

"The heads of state cannot meet to speak only about amendments. They have a lot of problems in Africa, so I think it will be an opportunity. We will hold a meeting ... to deal with all the conflicts in Africa," said A.U. Commission President Amara Essy.

The African Union was officially launched in Durban, South Africa, on July 9, 2002 to replace the Organization of African Unity.

Its structure is based on that of the European Union. The African Union upholds the sovereign equality and independence of its 53 member states and aims to promote peace, security and solidarity on the African continent.

The A.U. consists of the following bodies: the Assembly, the pan-African Parliament, the Court of Justice, the Commission, the Executive Council, in addition to a number of technical, scientific, economic and cultural specialized committees.

The A.U., in addition, has a peacekeeping force, a central bank with the hope of creating a single currency.