Kampala — Africa and its friends rolled out a host of local and global issues at yesterday's summit of its leaders, presenting a picture of quiet but steady progress on the continent often used as a reference of where the rest of the world has been and should not return.

Stunted infrastructure, preventable diseases, feeble economies in a world of common challenges like the global financial slow down, climate change and terrorism were variously mentioned by its leaders and invited guests.

African diversity

Indeed the guest list - reflected the international nature of the summit and Africa's own diversity. Speeches came from representatives of the League of Arab Nations, American President Barack Obama, a message from the Palestinian Authority and Mexico- the host of the next global meeting on climate change.

President Museveni provided a matrix of what he said was Africa's dilemma- small economies, limited tax bases and treasuries to address issues like maternal and infant mortality. "How can we talk of [maternal and infant mortality] without talking of development in general," he asked.

He said unless Africa focused on unbundling "strategic bottlenecks" to development including its energy and transport infrastructure- it would not move "from the Third World to the First". Sprinkling his speech with proverbs and personal experiences, Mr Museveni then launched into security- the issue that has climbed on top of the summit theme on the health of mothers and children.

He said the perpetrators of the July 11 attacks in Kampala had largely been apprehended and that interrogations of suspects had yielded good information. On Somalia, he said, the attacks on Amisom- the peacekeeping mission there was an attack on the flag and authority of the AU.

Top off the tongues of many speakers were the twin issues of terrorism and football- that climaxed tragically on the last day of the World Cup- which also claimed the lives of some 76 Ugandans- thus setting the tone for the 15th Ordinary Session of the African Union.

"Who are these people [terrorists]? Whose interest do they represent? Where do their loyalties lie? Whose interests do they serve?" asked President Museveni about the terrorist threat in Somalia. "They can and should be defeated." Mr Museveni said terrorists should be "swept out of Africa to Asia and the Middle East" describing their activity as "colonialism through terrorism".