Less well known is that Mbeki developed his ideas while surfing the Internet. That was how he became aware of a small group of dissident US scientists who disputed the consensus view on HIV/AIDS.

Take, for example, two well-publicised issues: the tussle over China's exchange rate policy and the Sino - Japanese row over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

An African Union statement said the Sudan summit agenda would include the withdrawal of armed forces from the disputed Abyei region as well as the dispatch of an African-led international mission.