Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said here on Tuesday the current allocation of global power was " arranged" and urged African countries to cooperate to develop an independent energy policy for the continent.

Delivering a key note at the African Energy Summit as part of the three-day World Energy Forum 2012 which was held here in Dubai, Mugabe said that "Africa, our sunny continent, has huge coal reserves and significant oil and natural gas deposits and could be an epicenter for solar energy. But instead, Africa exports most of its fossil fuels and commodities to other parts of the world. We have to make a U-turn to use our own treasuries to provide electricity to our own people," he said.

Mugabe said the current debate on how to produce energy for the 2 billion people who have no access to electricity was "deeply politicized", without finger-pointing at countries or organizations in particular.

"Politics shall have no place in this sensitive issue," the Zimbabwean head of state said, urging governments in the continent to join forces in order to provide electricity through green and clean energy projects, especially to the poor in Africa's rural areas. Endi

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