According to one estimate, the Sub-Sahara region of Africa will be 25 million tons short in food supply in 2015 while the population threatened by hunger will increase to 205 million.

In the area of drinking water and environmental hygiene, the improvement still lags far behind the growth of population in Africa despite increased efforts by governments concerned.

Statistics show that, between 1990 and 2006, the number of people without adequate drinking water supply grew from 280 million to 340 million, while that of those lacking basic hygiene increased from 430 million to 583 million. Some African nations lose up to 5 percent of their GDP value to water- and hygiene-related problems a year, far more than the economic aid they receive in proportion to their gross domestic product.

Zimbabwe has been under international media spotlight since its presidential and parliamentary elections took place in March. Because neither President Robert Mugabe nor opposition party leader Morgan Tsvangirai won more than half of the votes in the first round, a runoff had to be held according to the Constitution. Mugabe proceeded with the second round of voting alone as scheduled after Tsvangirai pulled out for security reasons and quickly announced victory and was sworn in for another term in office.

Regarding the legitimacy of this election foreign backers of the Zimbabwean opposition led by the US and Britain naturally debunked President Mugabe's win as "illegal", with Washington not only tabling a draft resolution at the UN Security Council to demand an arms embargo against the African nation and travel restrictions on its government officials but also hoping the latest AU summit would fire a similar warning shot at Mugabe.

AU member-states have been divided, too, over how to respond to the Zimbabwean crisis. Kenya and some other countries thought AU should send a clear and harsh signal, some heads of state even called on AU to launch military intervention, while South Africa and a few other countries believed sanctions would not achieve any positive result and called for further diplomatic efforts to bring the two rival Zimbabwean parties to the negotiating table for reconciliation.

After two days of bargaining and discussions the African Union said in its final agreement that it supports the establishment of a unified government in Zimbabwe and continued regional efforts to mediate with the country's political rivals.