Foreign ministers from across Africa on Tuesday rejected Libya's controversial proposal for a "United States of Africa", saying the vast continent was not ready to merge into one country with a centralised administration.

The likely election of Libya to a key United Nations post on Monday will put a spotlight on its human rights record and on efforts by abusive governments to undermine the international human rights system, Human Rights Watch says.

Libya firmly denied last Saturday that its troops have entered the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in support of rebel groups, following a protest by the DRC to the UN Security Council.

Libya’s Minister for African Unity, Ali Abd al-Salam Turayki, said on Sunday that his country wants to revive the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative to end the Sudanese conflict.
He told reporters that he had discussed "reactivating the Egyptian-Libyan initiative to achieve unity in Sudan" with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, AFP reported.

Reports from Libya say that the country's current Finance Minister, Ujayli Abdelsalam al-Burayni, is one of 47 government and bank officials to be sentenced to terms in prison at the end of a corruption trial.