Gamal Nkrumah listens as African politics are discussed in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh The 11th African Union summit, held in Sharm El-Sheikh, has chalked up a number of firsts. It is the first AU summit to be convened in Egypt since the establishment of the Pan--African organisation and the first AU summit to be held on Asian soil -- Sharm El-Sheikh is situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, technically part of Asia. The two-day summit, which convened at the Sharm El-Sheikh International Conference Centre, adopted as its main theme "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation". In his keynote address, President Hosni Mubarak stressed the importance of ending Africa's ruinous conflicts. "There can be no development without peace and no advancement without stability," warned Mubarak in his opening speech. African leaders at the Sharm summit elected Foreign Minister Djibril Bassalet as UN-AU mediator for Darfur, a conflict singled out for mention by Mubarak. The AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) has yet to establish its hegemony over the entire province. Sporadic violence and threats by armed opposition groups to march on the Sudanese capital Khartoum have created an atmosphere of trepidation and political anxiety. UNAMID has been able to do little beyond defend displaced people in refugee camps. Currently an estimated 10,000 UNAMID personnel are deployed in Darfur. The AU and UN agree that at least 26,000 international troops and police are needed to keep the peace there. Darfur remains in dire need of peace and security in order to speed up the rehabilitation of its longsuffering people and development of the war-torn province. It is against a backdrop that also includes conflict in Somalia and growing tensions across the Horn of Africa that Mubarak warned that continued conflict constitute a massive impediment to development. But if economic and social issues were intended to dominate Sharm El-Sheikh it was the political undercurrents that took precedence. The presence of the recently re-elected Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe took some Western observers by surprise. Mugabe entered the conference accompanied by the host President Mubarak and Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwetwe, current chairman of the AU. That Mugabe was flanked by Mubarak and Kikwetwe lent the Zimbabwean president a semblance of credibility, though one soon dissipated by what followed. Mugabe at one point physically accosted a British journalist. It was astonishing to see the sprightly 86-year-old Zimbabwean potentate push his way through the crowd of clamouring journalists. He clearly has no time for newspapermen, and was not about to waste any time on them. He stormed out of the meeting without batting an eyelid or uttering a word. However, the final communiqué of the AU summit did urge political opponents in Zimbabwe to create a government of national unity. The resolution also called for dialogue between the Zimbabwean protagonists following the 27 June run-off polls in which Mugabe was re- elected unopposed. The opposition, however, have declared that they would only comply with the AU resolution if President Mugabe demilitarises his party's institutions and a new constitution promulgated. Mugabe had flown to Egypt after a hasty swearing-in ceremony in the Zimbabwean capital Harare. He had vowed that only God could oust him from power and if his recent actions are anything to judge by he has no doubt whatsoever that God is on his side in Mugabe's self- proclaimed battle to ensure Zimbabwe is no neo- colonial appendage of the West. African criticism of Mugabe has been muted, with none of the African leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh speaking openly against him. His most vociferous African critics, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, suffered a stroke after attending a NEPAD meeting on the sidelines of the AU Sharm El-Sheikh summit. He was rushed to hospital. His aides have assured other leaders that his condition is stable. The AU summit was preceded by a New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) special meeting. There is growing impatience with the pace of NEPAD progress, with some observers dismissing it as an empty talking shop. Harsher critics believe that NEPAD has degenerated into something more akin to a farce. Most African leaders, though, still have faith in NEPAD, including President Mubarak. "NEPAD grows in importance given the current regional and international situation caused by the food crisis and soaring global prices of foodstuffs," stressed Mubarak. And the food crisis, predictably, was high on the AU agenda. Africans leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh also discussed the nomination of a new chief executive to head NEPAD's secretariat. NEPAD chairman, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, urged African leaders to incorporate NEPAD more fully into AU structures in order that it become more effective. The Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which Zimbabwe is a member, delegated South African President Thabo Mbeki to act as mediator for Zimbabwe. And even though some African politicians, such as Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, have urged the AU to suspend Zimbabwe under Mugabe, the overwhelming majority of African leaders were careful not to offend. The Zimbabwean president was treated with kid gloves. Tanzanian President Kikwetwe, speaking in Kiswahili, avoided direct criticism of Mugabe. "We have witnessed the historic elections which were conducted in two stages," a circumspect Kikwetwe noted in Sharm El-Sheikh. The close-knit club of African leaders were all equally prudent. "There has been a positive side, but there have also been challenges," the Tanzanian president concluded. His courteous statements were in sharp contrast to the broadsides of Western officials. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazier, called the Zimbabwean presidential poll "an open expression of tyranny". Africa's longest-serving leader, Gabonese President Omar Bongo, declared that the world should accept the results of Zimbabwe's run-off election. One African leader who remained conspicuously and uncharacteristically silent throughout the Sharm El-Sheikh summit was Libya's Muammar Gaddafi. Earlier in the week he had rejected the French proposal for a project for the Mediterranean Union which he warned would compromise African unity. Thokozani Khupe, vice-president of the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), flew to Sharm El-Sheikh to protest against the presence of Mugabe but she was barred from entering the conference centre. "The continent cannot ignore the crisis in Zimbabwe even if Egyptian television can," remarked the BBC. "Africa must fully shoulder its responsibilities and do everything in its power to help the Zimbabwean parties to work together to help overcome their country's problems," ventured AU Commission Chairperson Jean Ping, a Gabonese national. A distinguishing feature of the 11th AU summit is the close collaboration between the AU and the Arab League. Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, stressed that it was more imperative than ever that the AU and Arab League coordinate their political and economic activities. Moussa told delegates in Sharm El-Sheikh that Africans and Arabs must cooperate more fully in increasing food production in order to overcome the food crisis and stressed that for both regions food security should be a top priority. Africa, Moussa declared, has huge agricultural potential that is largely untapped. The Arab world, on the other hand, has skilled labour and the oil-rich Arab countries have vast capital resources that could be used to develop the mineral and agricultural resources of the continent. While most Arab countries suffer from water shortages, African countries south of the Sahara are by and large awash with water reserves. Indeed, the summit proved a golden opportunity for African and Arab leaders to mingle. President Mubarak conducted several important bilateral meetings with key African leaders. He urged African and Arab leaders to agree on a date for convening a second African-Arab summit on Egyptian soil. African leaders expressed their support for his proposition. A date, however, has not yet been fixed. UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro attended the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting and pointed out in her speech that 60 per cent of the proceedings of the UN Security Council focus on resolving African conflicts. She noted that while some conflicts across the continent have subsided far too many wars rage with growing ferocity.
