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Nairobi, January 30 , 2009

A.U Summit to be held in Addis Ababa

President Mwai Kibaki will tomorrow Saturday 31st January leave the country for a four day state visit to Ethiopia to attend the twelfth African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

The presidential entourage is expected to depart for Addis Ababa from Jomo Kenyatta international airport shortly after 9 A.M

The theme of this year’s summit is “Infrastructure Development in Africa ”, in recognition of the role of communication in development. African Union is spearheading a continental programme to improve road and railway network. With improved infrastructure, member states hope to accelerate trade and economic development, particularly through eased linkage of all the capital cities.

The African Development Bank has availed funds for the implementation of several key projects that have been prioritized such as the Cairo-Cape Town and Dakar-Djibouti highways. Currently, the road between Khartoum and Cairo is under construction while a feasibility study has been undertaken for the Dakar-Djibouti highway.

East African countries have cited the Mombasa-Nairobi-Malaba, Dares-salam -Masaka and Tunduma-Dodoma-Arusha-Namanga-Moyale as priority regional projects.

Other issues expected to dominate the discussions include the current global financial crisis and how Africa can be shielded from its ripple effect. While indications are that African economies may be sheltered from its full effects because their banking systems are still at nascent stage and are not fully integrated into the international system, it is feared that economic growth in most countries will be slowed down by decreased international trade, reduction of new investments as well as diminished donor assistance.

This may also critically affect the status of AU’s budget especially in the execution of its mandate as well as in funding activities of specialized institutions of the continental body such as the African Parliament and Court of Human and People’s Rights among others.

The summit is also expected to discuss insecurity in Somalia and Darfur and the urgent need to beef up peace keeping efforts in both regions as well as the recent coups d’etat in Guinea and Mauritania which is out of step with AU’s commitment to promotion of good governance and democracy in the continent.

With regard to Climate Change the Heads of State and Governments are expected to review the Sahel initiative launched in Senegal by President Abdoulaye Wade with a plan of action to be implemented between 2008 and 2010.

Also lined up for consideration is the proposal to create a Union Government for Africa and the integration of NEPAD into the AU structure.