African poverty summit kicks off

Heads of state from 17 African countries on Wednesday attended the opening of an African Union summit in Burkina Faso to craft a jobs creation plan to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty.

The summit was addressed by Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore, who welcomed his fellow leaders to the two-day meeting aimed at advancing development on the world’s poorest continent.

Chaired by Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, president of the AU, the summit aims to find “remedies” for the epidemic of unemployment and underemployment that has failed to provide paid work for three-quarters of the population.

Investment in agriculture, the mainstay of most of Africa’s economies—and the rural subsistence farmers who make up 225-million of Africa’s 300-million poorest people—is among the key themes to be broached at the summit.

So too is finding a better way to compensate the millions of urban poor, and women in particular, in the sprawling slums of Africa’s mega cities such as Lagos, Kinshasa and Johannesburg engaged in informal employment.

Africa has made tiny steps towards economic growth, progressing from 3,2% in 2002 to 4,2% in 2003, but those steps have not been complemented by an expansion of gainful employment.—Sapa-AFP