Uganda has invited thirteen Caribbean heads of state from to attend
the African Union (AU) summit due to take place in Kampala in July2010.
51 heads of state from Africa have comfirmed that they will attend the summit.
According to Uganda’s minister of Foreign affairs, Sam Kutesa, the heads of
state were invited because of their strong historical links to Africa.
“African Union has invited 13 leaders of Caribbean countries. AU has invited
them because they are blacks and are very much interested in African
affairs.”
He said that Uganda government had at first not been informed about the invitation of the Caribbean leaders until only two weeks ago. “We have just
started preparing for them. We did not have them on the list of those
expected to attend the summit and had not prepared for them. We were only
informed about their coming two weeks ago,” Kutesa said.
The heads of government expected are from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent. They will join the 51 African heads of state for
the summit.
He said that leaders from Mexico and Palestine are also expected to attend, but only as special guests.
The theme for the summit will be “Maternal, Infant and Child Health and Development in Africa”.
