Business as usual at the AU (and it's a good thing too)

It came as a relief to observers - and even more so, no doubt, to the politicians and their advisors unused to charting a course through such choppy continental waters - that this African Union summit was a return to the gentle, consensual, non-confrontational diplomacy which is something of an AU trademark.

The last two summits have been different, and the resulting scars have yet to fully heal. The divisive issue at the meetings in January and June 2012 was, of course, the election of a new chairperson for the African Union Commission, which turned into a bitter continent-wide fight between South Africa's very own Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and the then-incumbent, Gabon's smooth-talking Jean Ping.