PRESIDENT Rupiah Banda yesterday joined other heads of State and government at the official opening of the African Union (AU) special summit on refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the continent.

In his keynote address to the AU Assembly, host President Yoweri Museveni told the assembly that apart from addressing the root causes of IDPs and refugees, African governments should consolidate their capacity by ensuring that structures like the army were strengthened to protect peace on the continent.

During the official opening ceremony of the two-day summit at Speke Munyonyo Resort in Kampala, Uganda, President Museveni said that conflict and wars within Africa were the main factors causing IDPs and refugees.

He said the major solution to this phenomenon was to ensure that conflicts did not take place and once it did, programmes to resolve it adequately must be devised.

"The problem I have in dealing with this issue is lack of total seriousness, callousness on the part of those who cause these problems and the superficial means used in addressing the matter. In some cases, conflicts are not resolved and if resolved, this is not done adequately," he said.

Mozambique, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa are some of the countries, the Ugandan leader cited as having addressed the root cause ofIDPs and refugees, adding that the source of conflict in these nations was independence which has since been attained.

In Burundi and Uganda, he noted that, peace had been attained through regional mediation and fighting terrorists that were destabilising the countries.

Mr Museveni observed that experience had shown that the core problem was failure to define conflict, saying conflicts were different in nature.

President Museveni noted that conflicts and wars were either just or unjust. All wars regardless of their nature triggered IDPs and refugees.

He scorned at what he termed as using terrorist methods to bring justice like attacking women and children as not part of the solution to addressing the causes of IDPs and refugees but that all peaceful schemes should be exhausted before resorting to war.

Mr Museveni said refugees and IDPs must be catered for through providing them with food, security, medicine, education and safe water, among other services regardless of the causes of their displacement.

"There is also need to give refugees skills beyond agriculture, such as construction, carpentry and computer knowledge," he said.

And the Ugandan president has called for the repatriation and integration of IDPs and refugees to their countries of origin and host nations respectively.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) commissioner Antonio Gutterres noted that Africa's future depended on meeting the challenge of forced displacement in all its dimensions and finding lasting solutions.

Mr Guterres said Africa today hosts 2.3 million refugees, saying their numbers had steadily declined over the past several years but that there should be no complacency as 98 per cent of the remaining refugees have spent five years or more in exile.

He called for Africa's will, courage and leadership and that inspiration should be drawn from leaders on the continent that had frowned upon perpetual displacement and acted boldly to end it.

On the international community, the UNHCR representative said they needed to demonstrate in concrete ways the greatest solidarity with Africa, stressing that internal displacement is undeniably a global concern.