Nguema takes reins of AU

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema was appointed the African Union's new chairman at the AU summit in Addis Ababa on Sunday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for the United Nations Security Council to include more African members.

Reuters/Thomas Mukoya

He replaces outgoing chairman, Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. Some have criticised Nguema's AU presidency, citing his poor human rights record. Nguema took power in a 1979 coup.

02:14

Aloys Habimana, New York

“This is a country whose oil revenues give per capita income similar to some European countries like Spain and yet these revenues are diverted to fund a lavish lifestyle for the small elite surrounding Nguema,” says Aloys Habimana, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Africa division.

“And when you look at the kind of conditions that the people of Equatorial Guinea live in, you see that they are among the poorest in Africa.”

Also at the summit on Sunday, Sarkozy said that the UN should reform its Security Council this year to include one or more permanent African members.

"I have long been convinced that Africa does not have the place it deserves in world governance," he said.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – and 10 non-permanent members. Permanent members have the right to veto motions.

"Do not wait. Do not make a speech. Make decisions. Give the billion Africans the place they are entitled to and France will support you," Sarkozy told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Joseph Deiss, the president of the UN General Assembly.

African countries agreed in 2005 to press demands for two permanent seats in an expanded Security Council as well as two non-permanent seats.