The decision by the African Union (AU) on Monday to bypass Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir and elect Ghana's president John Kufuor as its chair was important for the organisation's credibility.
Sudan's human rights record and its support for the murderous activities of the Janjaweed militias in Darfur made Mr Bashir utterly unsuitable despite promises last year he would get the job. It would also have severely complicated discussion of missions to both Sudan and Somalia.
Observers estimate 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million driven into camps in Darfur in four years of rape, pillage and murder. Meanwhile, in Somalia, the overthrow of the Islamic Courts regime by the Ethiopian- backed government forces has left the country potentially prey once again to squabbling warlords and civil war. Only half the projected 8,000 AU peacekeepers have been pledged so far for a force that will be essential to avoid a dangerous vacuum when Ethiopian troops leave within weeks. Additional pledges to make up the full force may yet be forthcoming as African leaders see whether the government's commitment to inclusive dialogue materialises in the peace conference it has called.
Sudan's diplomatic retreat, however, has not made it any more co-operative on Darfur. Yesterday the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, warned that delays were preventing help reaching millions of the vulnerable, but his meeting on the fringes of the AU summit in Addis Ababa with Mr Bashir was completely fruitless. Sudan, continuing its prevarication, has not yet agreed to the UN support package for the 7,500-strong AU mission, let alone agreed to let in the 3,000-strong UN military and police backup agreed in principle by Mr Bashir last year.
The Khartoum regime appears to believe that the international community has no appetite for tough sanctions and the time for them is long overdue. The International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch, which have both played a key role in alerting the world to the ongoing genocide, have called for the imposition of targeted sanctions, focused on key members of the regime and revenue flows from the oil sector. Such sanctions should be accompanied by military measures - the Security Council must enforce its 2005 demand that the Sudanese government cease "offensive military flights" over Darfur by establishing a no-fly zone. In the immediate term EU ministers must find the resources, if necessary from national coffers, to get the AU/UN hybrid force up and running, and the next meeting of foreign ministers must seriously consider how it can ramp up the sanctions issue on the UN agenda.