ADDIS ABABA: African leaders meet Friday for their annual summit with conflict topping the agenda, especially Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgents, as well as efforts to stem Ebola.
While the official theme of the African Union meeting will be women's empowerment, leaders from the 54-member bloc will once again be beset by a string of crises across the continent.
Late Thursday, the AU Peace and Security Council called for regional five-nation force of 7,500 troops to deploy to stop the "horrendous" rise of the insurgents.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and more than one million made homeless by Boko Haram violence since 2009.
Leaders are also expected to elect Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to the organisation's one-year rotating chair, replacing Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
Mugabe, a former liberation war hero who aged 90 is Africa's oldest president and the third-longest serving leader, is viewed with deep respect by many on the continent.
But he is also subject to travel bans from both the United States and European Union in protest at political violence and intimidation.
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