African Leaders Launch Unity

African Leaders Launch "African Unity" As First Step To Hypothetic Continent-wide Federation (AP) Concluding marathon talks late into the night, African leaders agreed Friday to a Libyan-driven push to transform the African Union and in theory greatly extend its powers. The change was materialized by morphing the African Union's executive body, the commission, into an "African Authority." The draft document adopted at 4 a.m. local time at the AU summit of heads of states in Sirte, Libya, showed that the new Authority would simplify the AU's structure and boost its power over defense, diplomatic and international trade matters. The document, obtained by The Associated Press, was viewed as a milestone for the buildup to what Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has long envisioned as a federal government overseeing a "United States of... [read full story]                    

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