Nairobi — The third summit of the African Union, which brings together African Heads of States, opened yesterday in Addis Ababa to take stock of the past and forecast on the future. As has been the case in the past, the leaders are meeting against a backdrop of numerous challenges.

Right across in Sudan is the festering Darfur crisis, a monumental human tragedy that has refused to go away. Neither regional nor international efforts have borne any fruit, which just serves to underscore the continent's apparent inability to deal with human catastrophes on its own.

Intermittent conflicts continue to be recorded in various parts of the continent, including DR Congo, Chad, Eritrea, Angola and Liberia. Human right abuses and political intolerance are also rampant in Zimbabwe.

Poverty, hunger and HIV/Aids, continue to ravage the continent. Indeed, conservative estimates indicate that some 2.3 million people died of Aids in the continent last year. Matters have been compounded by the heavy debt burden now estimated at $201 billion.

Like its predecessor - the Organisation of African Unity - the AU has not found its rightful place in the global economic and political power equation. Nor has it acquired the resources to shepherd the continent's democratic processes.

While the new union started with a lot of fanfare during its launch in Durban, South Africa, three years ago, it has little to show in terms of practical action plans to sort out the continent's problems.

It is for this reason that the summit must go beyond the usual diplomatic niceties and make some hard decisions. We welcome, for instance, the plan to send 300 AU peacekeepers to Darfur to protect those displaced by carnage.

Time has come when the continent started looking inwards and seeking homegrown solutions to its problems.