AU SUMMIT

Mwai Kibaki Saturday afternoon left the country for a four day trip to Ethiopia to attend the 14th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government.

The plane carrying the president and his entourage departed for Addis Ababa from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport shortly before 2 .P.M.

At the airport to see off the Head of State were Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and other senior government officials.

The theme of this year's summit is "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for development," in recognition of the role of ICT in development.

African Union is spearheading a continental programme to interconnect capitals and major African cities with ICT broadband infrastructure and to strengthen connectivity to the rest of the world by 2012.

The African Development Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, World Bank and the EU are amongst several organizations that have partnered with the AU and availed funds towards various ICT programmes in the continent.

Alongside the official theme of the summit, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union will also launch the Year for Peace and Security in Africa.

In August 2009, in Tripoli , Libya , the heads of state declared the year 2010 to be the Year of Peace and Security on the continent.

The declaration invited the African civil society to continue playing its role in promoting peace, security and stability as partners of governments and the AU.

The launch is likely to lead to discussions on security situation in Somalia.

With regard to Climate Change the Heads of State and Governments are expected to review the report of the Commission on climate change negotiations held in Copenhagen last December.