The 20th African Union (AU) Summit was held in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, on January 27-28. The theme of this summit was "Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance." He Wenping, Director of African Studies at  the Institute of Western Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that peace and development are the foundation and engine that will foster African renaissance. Excerpts of the views she shared with ChinAfrica follow:

Achieving "African Unity and Renaissance" has been the continent's collective dream since its nations gained independence in the 1950s and 1960s.

However, Africa's development has faced a series of new challenges in recent years.

Political instability and wars threaten the creation of an African renaissance. Over the past two years, the continent has been beset by civil war in Cote d'lvoire, a war for independence of South Sudan, a war in Libya and an unrest in North Africa. Although the AU made every effort to find solutions to these crises and challenges, it didn't successfully solve these problems due to its own limited resources and capabilities, and the intervention of Western powers. Thus, Africa's economic integration, unity and renaissance should be based on maintaining peace and stability as well as improving the AU's capability to solve Africa's problems independently.  

At the time of the 20th AU summit, the French army launched a military strike against rebels occupying the northern part of Mali. Typical reasons for turbulence in Africa include ethnic conflicts, sluggish economic and social development, religious conflicts, the degradation of democracy, the infiltration of terrorists and foreign military intervention. These factors can all be seen in the war in Mali.

Meanwhile, Western powers have increased their military interventions in Africa, as seen with NATO in Libya and France in Cote d'lvoire and Mali.

Since the establishment of the U.S. Africa Command in 2007, the United States has stepped up its efforts to gather intelligence, set up small military bases, and directly engage in anti-terrorism and anti-extremism activities in Africa.

Undoubtedly, rampant terrorism activities and an expanding foreign military presence in Africa are challenging Africa's peace and security, clouding the potential for an African renaissance.

Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AU Commission, stressed the need for security during her opening address at this year's AU Summit. "We cannot over-emphasize the need for peace and security. Without peace and security, no country or region can expect to achieve prosperity for all its citizens," she said.

African countries, especially those in North Africa and the Sahel region, are facing escalating threats from terrorism, but the continent has never made, and cannot now make anti-terrorism its top priority. Ultimately, only development and poverty eradication can put an end to terrorism.

Over the past 10 years, thanks to the rapid recovery of Asian economies, rising prices of raw materials on international markets and successful economic reforms in African countries, Africa's annual economic growth has remained at about 5 percent. This was particularly impressive against the backdrop of a global economic downturn and sluggish growth in Europe and the United States, Africa's traditional trade partners.

To maintain economic momentum in 2013 and beyond, Africa urgently needs to strengthen economic ties with emerging economies.

Of course, the sustainable development of Africa's economy can not totally rely on foreign investment and the global economic recovery. Only by boosting domestic consumption, promoting intra-regional trade, cultivating human resources and attracting investment can Africa maintain its current economic growth.

Whether Africa follows Asia as the next major global economic power or whether it achieves a renaissance within 50 years or less does not depend on Washington, Brussels, Beijing, or New Delhi. The answers can only be provided by the 1 billion people who live in Africa.