CAIRO, February 2 (RIA Novosti) - Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, the new head of the African Union, said on Monday he would continue to press for the creation of a pan-African state, an Egyptian TV channel reported.

Qaddafi was elected at the tenth session of the African Union on Monday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, succeeding Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

"I will continue to work to ensure that our sovereign states unite into a United States of Africa," he said, according to Nile News.

Qaddafi has long been campaigning for the establishment of a continental government, a project that has met with fierce opposition from a significant number of African leaders.

Libya has also been attempting to reform its socialist economy and embrace globalization since mending ties with the West by abandoning its quest for weapons of mass destruction at the end of 2003.