When the African Union summit elected Colonel Muammar Gaddafi as its chairman at the beginning of February, many delegates predicted a bumpy year ahead. To start with all went well. But now he finds himself at odds with the AU's Peace and Security Council over its policy on Mauritania, which has been suspended since a coup d'etat last August. On a visit to the Mauritanian capital earlier this month, the Libyan leader announced that since the current military leadership had promised to organise elections in June, everything was fine and the file was now closed.