African group leader says "never again" to coups

By Barry Malone and Duncan Miriri

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African Union leaders said on Tuesday they intended to strengthen the group's powers to fight a rising tide of coups and electoral fraud on the continent.

"We must say 'never again' to conflict and war in Africa," Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika, the new AU chairman, said on the last day of its annual summit in Addis Ababa.

Four coups in Africa last year -- in Madagascar, Mauritania, Guinea and Guinea Bissau -- made some African politicians and international investors fear for a return to the days when revolts were a more regular occurrence on the continent.

The AU is expected to reveal its new measures by next week.

"We have all agreed on a new set of measures to combat unconstitutional changes of government," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told Reuters.

"It will improve our ability to protect democracy."

Lamamra did not say what the measures would be but diplomats at the summit told Reuters they would include the ability to sanction leaders who refuse to hold elections or who engage in electoral fraud.

The summit was dominated by discussion of the coups and the festering conflicts in Sudan, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, despite a main theme of developing the continent's information technology infrastructure.