Medeshi Feb 1, 2009
Crisis-hit Africa holds summit
ADDIS ABABA
The African Union's 12th summit opened Sunday in Ethiopia with an agenda officially focused on infrastructure development but overshadowed by conflict and hunger on the continent.
The 53-nation body began meeting in the Ethiopian capital behind closed doors and without any formal opening ceremony.
The leaders are officially focused on developing Africa's infrastructure and were to discuss transport, energy and investment issues against the background of a global economic slump.
AU Commission chief Jean Ping bemoaned the current global economic downturn which he said will adversely affect African countries that deserve no blame for the crisis.
"African economies and African people will suffer the full wrath of the crisis for which they are not responsible," Ping told a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers on Friday.
Ping argued that the financial crisis "would divert the international community's attention from funding development to rescuing banking and financial institutions."
But he also noted that conflicts have deepened Africa's vulnerability to the economic slump.
"The continent's vulnerability is always worsened by potential and open conflicts," Ping said.
Among the most noted leaders present at the AU's headquarters in Addis Ababa for the summit was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected the new president of Somalia on Saturday.
In his inauguration speech in Djibouti, Sheikh Sharif vowed to build an inclusive government, extend a hand to hardline armed groups still opposed to peace talks and bring Somalia back into the regional fold.
The African Union, which has around 3,500 peacekeepers in Somalia, has been pleading with member states and the international community for the support needed to expand the mission to its planned size of 8,000 men.
The summit was preceded by a high-level meeting on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting has displaced tens of thousands over the past five months.
Adding to its woeful list of long-running conflicts, a military coup in Mauritania in August 2008, another one in Guinea four months later, as well as a thwarted attempt in Guinea Bissau further hindered the continent's political growth.
Both Mauritania and Guinea were suspended from the bloc last year.
However, Ping remarked that progress had been made in restoring stability in Burundi, the Comoros, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic, among other trouble spots.
He also lauded the "well conducted elections in Guinea Bissau, Zambia and Ghana."
On development, Ping said several infrastructure projects in the continent are to be resumed such as the construction of the Cairo-to-Cape of Good Hope and Dakar-to-Djibouti highways, a regional reference university and electricity networks.
Also high on the agenda of the first day's talks was the ever-recurring isse of unifying the continent under a joint government.
While some leaders have favoured a maximilist option for a "United States of Africa
AFP
Crisis-hit Africa holds summit
ADDIS ABABA
The African Union's 12th summit opened Sunday in Ethiopia with an agenda officially focused on infrastructure development but overshadowed by conflict and hunger on the continent.
The 53-nation body began meeting in the Ethiopian capital behind closed doors and without any formal opening ceremony.
The leaders are officially focused on developing Africa's infrastructure and were to discuss transport, energy and investment issues against the background of a global economic slump.
AU Commission chief Jean Ping bemoaned the current global economic downturn which he said will adversely affect African countries that deserve no blame for the crisis.
"African economies and African people will suffer the full wrath of the crisis for which they are not responsible," Ping told a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers on Friday.
Ping argued that the financial crisis "would divert the international community's attention from funding development to rescuing banking and financial institutions."
But he also noted that conflicts have deepened Africa's vulnerability to the economic slump.
"The continent's vulnerability is always worsened by potential and open conflicts," Ping said.
Among the most noted leaders present at the AU's headquarters in Addis Ababa for the summit was Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected the new president of Somalia on Saturday.
In his inauguration speech in Djibouti, Sheikh Sharif vowed to build an inclusive government, extend a hand to hardline armed groups still opposed to peace talks and bring Somalia back into the regional fold.
The African Union, which has around 3,500 peacekeepers in Somalia, has been pleading with member states and the international community for the support needed to expand the mission to its planned size of 8,000 men.
The summit was preceded by a high-level meeting on the crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting has displaced tens of thousands over the past five months.
Adding to its woeful list of long-running conflicts, a military coup in Mauritania in August 2008, another one in Guinea four months later, as well as a thwarted attempt in Guinea Bissau further hindered the continent's political growth.
Both Mauritania and Guinea were suspended from the bloc last year.
However, Ping remarked that progress had been made in restoring stability in Burundi, the Comoros, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic, among other trouble spots.
He also lauded the "well conducted elections in Guinea Bissau, Zambia and Ghana."
On development, Ping said several infrastructure projects in the continent are to be resumed such as the construction of the Cairo-to-Cape of Good Hope and Dakar-to-Djibouti highways, a regional reference university and electricity networks.
Also high on the agenda of the first day's talks was the ever-recurring isse of unifying the continent under a joint government.
While some leaders have favoured a maximilist option for a "United States of Africa
AFP
