On 8-9 December the second Summit of the heads of state and government from EU and Africa is scheduled.  On the agenda is, among other items, the joint EU-Africa Strategy.  Although President Mugabe of Zimbabwe has been banned from the EU, the African Union has insisted that no African state be excluded.  The Portuguese have, however, invited him, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the UK has signalled his absence if Mugabe participates.  It may well be that Brown will be alone among the European countries in his refusal.

In the recent COMEDAF III meeting of the African education ministers, it was the again insisted that the education sector be seen in a holistic perspective, giving higher education and training a central role.  As regards the agenda for the EU-African strategy to be debated in December, it is to be suspected that higher education per se will have a minor role, but we shall see.

Europafrica