African leaders urged to halt food crisis, violence on
continent
From Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special
Correspondent, Sirte, Libya
Sirte, July 1, GNA - African leaders have been urged to
commit more resources to agriculture development to reverse
the escalating food crisis and renewed violence in parts of
the continent.
Dr. Jean Ping, President of the African Union (AU)
Commission, said that the continent had the means, coupled
with enough external support, to overcome the food crisis
and regain her position as a continent that mattered.
He was opening the 13th Ordinary Session of the General
Assembly, presided over by the AU Chairman and Leader of
Libya, Muamar Al-Gadafffi, in Sirte, Libya.
Dr. Ping noted that the economic growth of some African
countries in the last five years, before the global
financial problems, gave hope that African leaders could
reverse the crisis.
He expressed the determination of the AU to initiate
measures to address the crisis and satisfy the daily
aspirations of the people.
President of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills was
attending the three-day summit that was on the theme:
"Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food
Security."
He attended the 11th Summit of the African Peer Review
Mechanism (APRM), Sirte on Tuesday.
The UN estimated that about 625 million people were
currently going hungry in Sub-Saharan Africa.
According to Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro, UN Deputy Secretary-
General, the already appalling situation, was expected to
get worse, as UN projections indicated that economic growth
in Africa would sharply decrease from 4.9 per cent in 2008
to 0.9 in 2009, and poverty whole would rise by 1.2 per cent
in 2009.
She stressed the importance of investing in agriculture to
create jobs.
Dr. Migiro said investing in agriculture could help improve
economic growth and increase food and nutritional security
in Africa.
She called on African countries to have a national strategy
for agricultural development and live up to the pledge to
increase agricultural spending by 10 percent of their
budgets.
The African leaders were expected to discuss means of
strengthening the role of the AU in the prevention,
management and resolution of election disputes and violent
conflicts in Africa, according to the draft agenda of the
summit.
They would also explore ways to prevent unconstitutional
changes of government and to strengthen the capacity of the
AU to deal with such situations.
The summit in Libya is expected to focus on the
implementation of a decision made in the Ethiopia Summit of
AU in February to transform the AU Commission, the executive
arm of the pan-African body, into a new AU Authority.
A number of hot regional issues, such as the security
situation in Somalia, Zimbabwe and Sudan's Darfur region,
were also expected to be discussed by the African Heads of
State and Governments.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Premier
Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, which will host a Group of Eight
summit next week, were present at the meeting.
The 13th AU summit, was previously scheduled to take place
in July in Madagascar, but membership of that country was
suspended in March due to political stalemate.
The AU, established in 2002, replaced the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) that was founded in 1963.
The AU is aimed at preserving and promoting peace and
stability in Africa, carrying out reforms and poverty
reduction and realizing the development and renewal of
Africa.
GNA
