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January 31, 2007

AU summit: final thoughts

Readers following the AU summit on national TV news could be forgiven for wondering if the event on their screens is the same as that being described in this blog and on the pages of SciDev.Net.

It 'was' exactly the same event, only my colleagues from the broadcast media who came to Addis in their hundreds mostly ignored the discussions on science and climate change. They focused instead on conflicts: conflicts between heads of state for top jobs in the AU; conflicts between Ethiopia and Somalia, in Sudan and even in Rwanda where the country wants to heal and move on from the genocide.

This is not to say that Africa is conflict-free. But that the clips on our TV screens did not reflect the bulk of what was discussed at the AU this week, nor did the broadcasts convey much of a sense that Africa is on the move -- the overwhelming impression that delegates went home with. This week's summit showed that a confident and emboldened AU (with its planned new parliament and court of human rights) will be key to the continent's future. It is unfortunate that many viewers and listeners inside and outside Africa will never know, because broadcasters chose to turn their cameras elsewhere.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 09:00 PM | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

AU summit: a good night for science

After close to 12 hours of discussion delegates emerged at midnight on 30 January with some decisions. The scientists, according to the AU’s commissioner for science Nagia Essayed, ended up with a result better than they might have expected.

Summiteers also pledged to move ahead with a merger of the two intellectual-property organizations that separately serve Anglophone and Francophone countries in the AU. The new organization will be called the Pan African Intellectual Property Organization. Setting this up is likely to prove complicated in practice, but doing so is necessary for an Africa-wide consensus on IP, which is independent of the politics of France and Britain.

There was also agreement on a 20-year strategy for biotechnology, new diplomatic-style passports for scientists that wll allow them to travel throughout the continent without visa restrictions. 2007, moreover, has been designated as Africa's year for innovations.

Less certain at this stage is the verdict on a planned new strategy for biosafety, which had financial backing from Germany. The biosafety strategy (if implemented) will have AU countries enforce the world’s toughest biosafety regulatory regime, which will go beyond the regulations of the UN Cartagena Protocol.

Two issues that failed to make it this time were the Africa-wide science fund, and a planned new council of heads of state to oversee AU decisions in science and technology. Essayed says she is not about to drop the ball on both of these issues just yet.

All-in-all, not a bad night for science.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 08:34 PM | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

January 30, 2007

AU Summit: picking winners

The public part of the summit is now over.

Heads of state are meeting in closed session before they issue a set of summit resolutions. This session could last late into the night. Several leaders are known to be cross at having been lectured-to for a day-and-a-half (by scientists) when they could have spent the time actually taking policy decisions. So much for the idea of making policy decisions based on good scientific advice, then?

The betting so far remains that a new, continent-wide strategy for biotechnology will be the most concrete outcome from this summit in science and technology. Expect also a strong resolution on climate change. The big question is whether anyone will pledge funds for the planned Africa-wide science fund. This idea needs to be backed with money from inside Africa if it is to fly.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 02:07 PM |

AU Summit: climate change, but not as we know it


Earlier this morning, UK government adviser Nicholas Stern led a debate on climate change in which he hinted strongly that rich countries ought to pay to resolve a crisis that they helped to cause. This goes further than the official UK government line, but was a wise move on the part of Stern.

Several speakers responded by repeating the point that while Africa contributes least to human-induced global warming, it will suffer most from the effects of climate change. President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda summed up the mood among many in the hall: “In causing global warming [developed] countries are committing aggression against us.”

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 01:50 PM |

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.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 09:42 AM |

AU Summit: The donors are coming

International donors are out in force at the summit and practically falling over themselves to fund African development projects.

First up yesterday was incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, followed by Unesco’s Koichiro Matsura who made a strong public pledge that Unesco (not always the biggest of donors) is ready to invest in African Union science initiatives. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a four-strong team here. Italian Prime Minister Prodi flew in briefly yesterday, and Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan is still here.

The reason for Turkey’s presence at the summit becomes clearer after spending a few minutes at the Turkish stand in the summit exhibition hall. Visitors are invited to take away two glossy leaflets. In one, 'Turkey: A New Partner for Africa', a smiling Erdogan in pin-stripe suit is pictured on the cover surrounded by poorly-clothed African children each waving a Turkish flag. The second leaflet is called Turkey: Candidate for the United Nations Security Council. Enough said.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 09:37 AM |

January 29, 2007

AU Summit: Not the best of beginnings

Scientists and science ministers ended the inaugural session somewhat in a state of shock. Rather than focus on science, the opening speeches from heads of state focused mostly on the international year of football in Africa. “This is not a football summit,” said one minister as he left the conference hall. Another said: “This is not what we need to pull the continent out of underdevelopment.” Presentations on science and on climate change are up next. Climate change has been rising up the summit agenda over recent weeks and some see the hand of Tony Blair in this.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 02:29 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

AU Summit: Addis for Beginners

AU Summit: Addis for beginners

Ethiopia is a young democracy, and it occasionally shows. Take my ride to the summit venue. We are twice interrupted by groups of armed soldiers crossing the road: without necessarily looking to see if the road is clear. They don’t need to: the cabbie says he is programmed to stop for soldiers. This habit will take a while to break.

Incomes are low here even by developing-country standards. Shops are small, housed mostly in tin shacks, and there are few signs of the multinationals that are now a normal sight in the capital-cities of higher-income countries in the continent, such as international banks, fast-food chains, and the like.

What you do see are multinationals from the 1970s: oil companies such as Total and Shell run the pumps; Western Union is here (it is a big player in Africa, where remittances from Africans abroad are a major slice of overseas earnings). I also spot the ubiquitous YMCA. Its global network of libraries and hostels remain one of the best-known exports to developing countries. Soviet-built Ladas and 1970s Peugeots cram the roads. A billboard advertises something called the Macmillan Academy. NPG need not worry: it appears to be a primary school, or kindergarten.

My cab eventually joins a queue of limos, and white 4-x-4s with the UN logo in black. Minutes later we are at the summit venue and a world of blackberrys, coffee bars and wifi hotspots awaits. Inside, this could be London or Paris. Outside it most certainly isnt. This is the problem that AU leaders must fix.


Posted by Ehsan Masood at 11:23 AM |

AU Summit: Deal or No Deal

Two years of painstaking preparations are over. The world’s gaze has descended on Addis Ababa to see whether Africa’s leaders will deliver on their promises to get real about science and technology. Can Addis live upto expectations? We will know in the next two days.

In the final weeks and months before this meeting, the signs were decidedly mixed. There was little consensus for example on a new Africa-wide research fund; nor on an idea to set up a council of presidents to keep an eye on political commitments on science.

A new 20-year strategy for biotechnology may get the green-light. If this happens, it will signal a much-needed truce in Africa’s very own science-wars – the damaging conflict between proponents and critics of GM technology in agriculture that has hindered everything from education, research, regulation and commercialization.

No summit of heads of state would be complete without a bit of glamour and entertainment – and this summit seems to have it in spades. Yesterday saw the launch of the International Year of African Football in which the summit was temporarily converted into a stadium. Delegates were treated to a match between Ethiopia and South Africa (under-15s).

Climate change is also on the agenda and the UK government’s latest scientific export: Nicholas Stern has been given star billing. Later today he will introduce his report on the economics of climate change. Stern will be preceded by the AU’s Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, Mme Rosebud Kurwijila.

Posted by Ehsan Masood at 08:22 AM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

January 26, 2007

African Union Summit

Join Ehsan Masood as he blogs from the African Union Summit on the Nature newsblog. He'll be sending back entries from Monday 29 January.

To find out about this meeting, check out Ehsan's news feature (you'll need a password) Science in Africa: All eyes on Addis , and our editorial Grounds for optimism.

The conference webpage can be found here.
And Ehsan's blog is here.

Posted by Nicola Jones at 02:29 PM | | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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