EU and African leaders wrapped up their first-ever summit in Cairo earlier this week…

Date: 06/04/2000

...declaring that relations between the two continents would “never be the same”. But the final action plan agreed by leaders contains few concrete commitments and only vague pledges to respect the rule of law and the free market. The summit was overshadowed by the unfolding political crisis in Zimbabwe, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's provocative comments about the continent's former colonial masters and the threat of impending famine in the Horn of Africa.