Tanzania's Foreign Minister Bernard Membe on Sunday said that some African countries expressed concern on the peace and stability in Zimbabwe at a foreign ministerial meeting of the African Union (AU) Executive Council.
At a press conference after the session, Membe, also chairperson of the Executive Council, said the council had taken notice of the latest development in Zimbabwe which caused great concern to the region and will deliver a report on Zimbabwe to the AU summit Monday for the analysis of heads of the 53 AU members.
Zimbabwe held a presidential run-off election on Friday as scheduled despite opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the race.
The 13th Executive Council ordinary session also tackled the issue of peace and security in the African continent, including the conflicts between Eritrea and Djibouti, as well as Chad and Sudan, Membe said.
He added that the AU foreign ministers called for self-restraint by both sides of Eritrea and Djibouti and tried to bring them together.
The skyrocketing food and oil prices were also on top of the agenda of the council session, Membe noted, adding that the high oil prices aggravated the current global food crisis, which would also be proposed to the G8 summit in Japan next week.
The council called for urgent and long-term measures to develop agriculture, including efficient use of water resources and funding the African farmers to purchase fertilizer.
He also noted that the Executive Council expressed concern on the practice by some countries to convert food products into biofuels, saying that it should be abandoned.
Under the theme "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals on Water and Sanitation," the 11th AU summit to be held in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday and Tuesday will focus on peace and security in Africa, the oil and food prices and agriculture, as well as the situation in Zimbabwe.
Source:Xinhua
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