On Sunday I wrote about Spanish PM Zapatero addressing African leaders at the opening of the 14th ordinary African Union Summit in Addis Abeba, and how he stuck to generalities on his speech. The summit finished yesterday, and, keeping in the line, African leaders made some interesting declarations but did not push through any revolutionary decisions. Nevertheless, I have tought it may be a good idea to put together the most important outcomes of the summit:

The most commented aspect of the meeting, as it is often the case in African politics, was a question of leadership. Thus, the earlier part of the summit was dominated by a bitter controversy: the desire of the AU Chairman, Muammar Al Gaddafi, to exten his one-year term. During his tenure, Gaddafi has been the centre of numerous controversies (some of these have been mentioned before in this blog - for example, here and here), but this time he had to give up and cede the AU Chairmanship to Malawian president Bingu Wa Mutharika. This change to a presidency on the south of the continent was part of an established rotating system, but after Gaddafi's wishes were ignored - something that some consider as an "rare glimpse of courage" from African leaders - Gaddafi accused the "political elite of the continent" of lacking "political awareness and hence the political determination”, and set his sight on a new international role - this time as leader of the League of Arab states.

Newly elected AU Chairman Bingu Wa Mutharika (Photo Reuters)

On the main theme of the conference “Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development”, not much appears to have been advanced. There was, of course the unavoidable declaration of good intentions at the closing ceremony, with the Chairman Wa Mutharika pointing out the need to "put in place a food security program to alleviate poverty in the next five years; the need to develop transport and telecommunications, and connect countries through ICTs; and the development of energy". But these declarations are not enough and ICT analysts and experts still think there is much work to be done, and that sometimes the AU focuses on the wrong areas.

A number of other topics were however also discussed at the AU summit, such as:

- the dissolution of NEPAD - after nearly ten years in which it failed to deliver a single project - and its substitution by a new agency - the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA) - formally integrated within the AU's structures.

- on the inauguration of 2010 as the "Year of Peace and Security in Africa", Wa Mutharika also declared "war on unconstitutional change of government on the African soil and resolve to take strong necessary punitive action against all authors of coup d'etats and those that provide them the means to unseat duly elected governments", and pressed for the AU to take a harder stance on coup leaders in countries like Madagascar, Mauritania and Guinea (with measures being announced next week).

- a letter from Eritrea was circulated among the leaders attending the summit, accusing Ethiopia of blocking Eritrea's participation at AU events by failing to extend appropiate guarantees to its officials.

- AU leaders also considered, according to the Chairman of the AU Comission Jean Ping, offering "land and naturalization benefits" to Haitians affected by the earthquake and who may seek to return to the African continent.

- at the the summit, the AU also endorsed South Africa's candidature for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, on the elections that will take place at the General Assembly in October this year.

- finally, at the summit, the AU also unveiled its new flag, selected from those put forward after the call for new ideas made in 2007.

Africa News - APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The African Union (AU) allows Eritrea to open''as soon as possible''a diplomatic mission to the AU Commission, to enable the authorities of that country to participate meetings of the Pan-African organization, APA learned on Tuesday a source close to the Union.

• Eritrea allowed to open a diplomatic mission to the AU in Addis Ababa (afriqueavenir.org)

That importation of second hand cars is not a very big business.

Ethiopia has no port, the goods come through Djibouti, Port Sudan and Somaliland.

Am sure the port of Mombasa will get business if we can sort out road issues.... The great North road is mid way..

Africa News - Ethiopian Proverb: He who has power and falls will be bruised

• Ethiopian Proverb: He who has power and falls will be bruised

Africa News : APA-Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) The month of January 2010 marks the beginning of peace and security in Africa, said African Union (AU) in a statement sent to APA. Meeting in special session August 31, 2009 in the Libyan capital, the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) in its Declaration on the Elimination of conflicts in Africa and promoting sustainable peace , decided to declare 2010 the Year of peace and security on the continent.

• The AU said 2010 years of peace and security in Africa (afriqueavenir.org)

Lately African infrastructures, of all sorts, are becoming one of the most popular topics for those commenting on the state of the continent. I, at least, have a come across a number of different news and reports pointing out new developments, the impact of Chinese investment, new European and World Bank support for large-scale investment (1970s-style), communication infrastructures, etc.

So I thought I would put all of this together in a mini-round up of recent (and old) news about different aspects of African infrastructures:

Internet and Broadband

Online Africa is definitely the place to go for all internet things related: they, for example, report on the award given to the ubiquitous SEACOM for the best Pan-African initiative. They also have a section with plenty of maps showing internet bandwith connections and undersea cables.

Subsaharska has also reported on the Central African Backbone, with the latest news been posted yesterday - a follow up to the first post from two months ago.

Undersea broadband cables

Energy

I have written here before about the Desertec Foundation's plan to turn the Saharan desert into a massive energy plan, and also about Congo's vision - with World Bank support - for a massive Great Inga Dam which would have a massive ecological impact and whose power may be going, not to Africa, but Europe.

Oil continues to have a crucial importance, and the biggest African exporter, Nigeria, is undergoing a critical reform of this sector with the promotion of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), Africa-Confidential reports.

Road Transportation

After decades in which African roads were left unattended, and their state declined rapidly, a new interest has appeared in fixing the existing infrastructures, and building new ones. In Nigeria, ex-President Obasanjo has showed his concern for the state of the country's roads.

One of the key areas of Chinese investment on the continent is the creation of infrastrucries, as we have pointed before, and very recently pledged $349 millon for building a highway in Ethiopia linking the capital to the city of Adama.

European countries are also turning their attention to roads, and a few months ago, the UK pledged $1 billion to rebuilid 8,500km of roads and over 500km of railways accross eight different African countries.

Rail Transportation

Mozambique Sena Rail line has been recently reopened, linking the coal mines in Moatize with the port of Beira, which is giving neglected areas a much needed boost. This contrasts with the crumbling state of other East African railways, for example in Kenya, as today's post on A Bombastic Element notes. For more information and news on African railways, you can visit this site.

The problems which poor transport infrastructure have for a country's economy and trade are highlighted on this article on The Monitor (Uganda) signalling why the Kampala-Mombasa (Northern Corridor) is preffered to the Kampala-Dar-es-Salam one, harming thus the Tanzanian economy.

A view of the newly rebuilt Sena Line. - Photo: Stewart Currie (Railways Africa)