Africa's poor too far from summits and their agenda

The dusty road connecting Ol Pejeta Conservancy in central Kenya with the rest of the world cuts through several humble villages. The vistas may be breathtaking, but the area is extremely poor. Small fields - growing mainly maize - are now dry and without farmers. This year, drought has devastated Kenya's agriculture, and several international organizations have warned that about a quarter of the country's population could soon face starvation.

Near the village of Yard, just 2 km from the gate to Ol Pejeta, a simple wooden cross was erected recently in the middle of a maize field. Several men are standing aimlessly near the road. One of them is James Mwangi, a former farmer, leaning on the wooden fence, with a bitter expression on his face. "I heard about the global recession," he says. "But it felt too distant. Now we can all feel its impact. We have no jobs, no money and almost no food."

The official agenda of the July 1-3 African Union (AU) summit held in the Libyan port city of Sirte was originally supposed to solve people's problems by increasing spending on agriculture in the continent. All countries and groups had carried their problems to the summit. But the agriculture and food crises were overshadowed by other urgent issues, especially the security issue in several African countries.