UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon addresses dignitaries on Monday during the opening of the 8th African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. An African Union summit opened in Ethiopia Monday, with Sudan coming under increasing international pressure to resolve the worsening violence in Darfur./AP

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cited the success story of Korea during a speech urging African leaders to put an end to suffering caused by regional conflicts and to strive for economic development.

Delivering an address at the African Union Summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, Secretary-General Ban spoke of his childhood growing up in a war-torn country plagued by starvation, disease and suffering. He stressed that settling conflicts is a prerequisite for improving the lives of Africa's people.

The Secretary-General told of old women scavenging for scraps, children suffering from malnutrition and rice paddies abandoned after the fratricidal Korean War. Ban said that he still has flashbacks of these memories.

He called on African leaders to learn a lesson from South Korea, which rose from the ashes of the Korean War to become a productive economy. Africa could turn the world’s poorest continent into another example of economic success, he implied. South Koreans, united and driven by common goals, made their country into a regional economic powerhouse, he said.

Ban urged African leaders to establish common goals, saying that the overriding mission of economic development brought the Korean people together with the active assistance of the international community.

Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban said that the conflict in Darfur, Sudan is one of his top priorities and that he expects the African Union Summit to tackle the issue productively, emphasizing that the Darfur conflict should be ended.

(englishnews@chosun.com )