AU Summit: The next generation
Every political summit needs a young-Turk, someone to remind the old guard that leadership isn't for life. Yesterday, summit-planners gave a keynote slot to Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda. Tall and of slim build, Kagame is not from the evangelical school of public speaking, but he managed to hold his audience with carefully-chosen words, and a vision that few (if any) of his colleagues were able to match. This includes a promise that Rwanda will aim to spend 3 per cent of its national income on research and development within the next five years – matching the proportion of spending that is common in the developed world. The AU average at present is less than 0.5 per cent.