With Muammar Kadhafi celebrating his 40th year as the leader of Libya this week, little attention has been given to the African Union (AU) summit that was held in Tripoli on Monday. The summit, organized by Kadhafi earlier this summer, addressed the resolution of armed conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and the Great Lakes Region as well as the potential renewal of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. But the event was widely seen as an attempt to attract African heads of state to the country for Kadhafi’s week long festival.
At the end of the two-day summit, members of the AU agreed to the “Tripoli Declaration,” a statement detailing continued investment and concern for countries plagued by violence.
The biggest change in policy from this declaration addressed the AU’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Showing strong support for the Transitional Federal Government led by Prime Minister Sheik Sharif Ahmed member nations – particularly Sierra Leone, Malawi and Nigeria – agreed to double the number of troops for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), raising the level of troops to 8,000. In recent months, garnering support for AMISOM has been difficult. Despite this achievement, no date has been set for the deployment of these additional forces.
Sudan’s Darfur conflict was also on the table Monday as former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki reported his commission’s findings. The eight-member panel was commissioned to provide the AU with an "in-depth assessment of the situation in Darfur." Mbeki suggested a truth and reconciliation commission for Sudan, similar to that of South Africa, to bring Darfur war criminals to justice.
Since Khadafi was given the chairmanship of the African Union, he has advanced several harebrained schemes for the future continent and for himself. In April, he announced a plan to establish the “United States of Africa,” supposedly under his leadership. And most recently, he negotiated an oil-for-terrorist deal with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to release the bomber of the PanAm 103 flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. This summit, ostensibly on peace and security, has now been overshadowed by the lavish festivities around the 40th anniversary of the September 1, 1969 Libyan revolution.
If Khadafi does plan to improve peace and security on the continent, he must put rhetoric into action and set a timeline for strengthening AMISOM forces and developing truth commissions in Sudan. Without moving forward on these initiatives, Kadhafi’s vision of 2010 being the labeled the year of Peace and Security in Africa will be just another show.
The Horn of Africa, as shown on the right, includes Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan (some scholars also include Kenya and Uganda in this list). Over the past few decades it has notoriously become known as one of the most conflict ridden areas in the world. 
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