KIGALI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Former African leaders on Thursday said African leaders and policy makers should strengthen and embrace home-grown solutions to find sustainable solutions for challenges faced by Africa.

"Africa needs to develop home-grown strategies to achieve the sustainable development goals," said former president of Mozambique Joaquim Chissano at the fifth African Leadership Forum that kicked off Thursday in Rwandan capital Kigali.

He emphasized Africans are best placed to deal with African challenges without external influence and they should start now.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, former President of Somalia, also said African leaders and policy makers have to start looking for solutions internally. He urged African countries to have boldness and bravery to customize their systems to suit African culture.

"The problem of Africa cannot be blamed on anyone else except us," said former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. African countries can learn many lessons from one another, especially in terms of getting on the path to sustainable social and economic development, he added.

The two-day meeting also brought together close to 100 participants from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society.

It was conceived of as a space for Africa's eminent elders to interact with current and future leaders around the strategic challenges facing the continent.