African Union leaders meeting in Ethiopia will consider a range of issues from security and conflict to development.

 

Also on the agenda is a proposal by Senegal that Haitians left homeless by the huge quake could be resettled in Africa.

 

The proposal raises the idea they could be given their own new state.

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, a guest of honour at the summit, touched on Haiti in his speech as well.

 

[Ban Ki-Moon, U.N. Secretary General]:

"Africa is the future.  It's one of my top priorities.  We come together to build peace and prosperity for all Africans.  We also gather in solidarity and sorrow.  The nation of Haiti is an ocean away yet I know it is so close to the hearts and minds of African people."

 

An estimated one million Haitians have been left homeless by the magnitude 7 quake that shattered the nation on January 12.

 

They're surviving as best they can in tents but many are glad just to have survived.

 

Makie Jocelyne and her son are among them.

 

[Makie Jocelyne, Quake Survivor]:

"After 20 hours that I passed under the ground and this is happy now. I am happy."

 

Senegal's proposals to the African Union also call for a mass adoption program across the continent for orphans of the quake.