Its commission chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said Africa must resist the consequences of intensifying global rivalries that he said threatened to create a new Cold War.

China, Russia, and the United States have all sent their top diplomats to Africa this year.

Ukraine's foreign minister is currently on a mission there.

The chairman's warning was given on the 60th anniversary of the formation of the African Union's predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity.