20100726
Xinhua

The African Union (AU) commenced its 15th summit on Sunday in the Ugandan capital of Kampala with the issues of maternal, infant and child health and development and the Somali peacekeeping high on agenda.



The chairman of the African Union, Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika declared the open of the summit.

The delegates observed a two-minute silence for the over 70 victims who died in the bomb attacks two weeks ago in Uganda.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that transition of the continent's economy is the key to reducing the maternal and infant mortalities in Africa that have remained high.

"How can we discuss the maternal infant and infant health issue in Africa without discussing the foundation issues of job creation, human resource development and infrastructure development? How can you discuss the issue without discussing the general development?" he said.

He called on the African leaders to focus on developing their economies while slammed the donors for ignoring the continent's real needs, citing the country's Bujagali hydro project which took 15 years of negotiations with the World Bank.

Museveni also said that Somali militant groups showed arrogance by attacking AU peacekeeping force in Somalia, urging all the African countries to "sweep terrorists out of Africa."

Jean Ping, the AU commission chairman, said that Africa is gaining strategic momentum with more development partners being attracted to the land as it is steadily recovering from the global economic downturn.

A total of 13 African countries can expect rapid economic growth ranging from 6 to 11 percent this year, including the AU summit host Uganda with a projected growth rate of 6.4 percent and Ethiopia where the AU headquarters are located with the top growth rate of 11 percent.

However, he said that Africa's realization of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal point four is "considerably slow."

He urged all African countries to endeavor to bring down the maternal and infant mortalities and achieve the goal of "no woman should die while giving life."

Jean Ping also echoed Museveni's call on addressing bottlenecks of development of members while consolidating the stable and fast growth on the continent.

Heads of more than 40 AU members are expected to exchange views on the high maternal and infant mortalities in sub-Saharan Africa due to insufficient medical facilities, entrenched harmful traditional practices and management failure despite the concerted efforts of international community over the past decades.

Other topics high on agenda of the three-day summit include the African agricultural development and food security, regional stability and regional economic integration.