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Kenyan President Mr Daniel arap Moi, former South African
President Mr Nelson Mandela, and Libyan President Col Muammar Gaddafi |
African heads of state are attending a summit in Lusaka, Zambia today, to launch a potentially powerful new pan-African bloc to spearhead Africa's economic development and integration.
African foreign ministers ended preparatory talks for the summit earlier today, but had yet to decide on a new-secretary general to replace Tanzanian diplomat Mr Salim Ahmed Salim.
Candidates from Ivory Coast, Guinea and Namibia are vying for the job but diplomats told Reutersthat the Libyan leader, Gen Gadafy, was spearheading a campaign to have Mr Salim's contract extended for a year.
The meeting will include formal adoption of the treaty of the new African Union (AU) to replace the 38-year-old Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Fifty of the OAU's 53 member states have so far ratified the treaty. South Africa and Nigeria hesitated before signing the treaty due to what diplomats say were their initial suspicions about the treaty's promoter, Col Muammar Gadafy.
The African Union will eventually have common institutions like a parliament, an executive commission, a court and a central bank. The Union's executive commission is expected to be located in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Zambia's pride at hosting the summit has been overshadowed by the murder of top opposition politician Mr Paul Tembo in Lusaka on Friday. Thousands of mourners and opposition supporters gathered a few miles away in the city centre for Tembo's funeral.
Notable absentees at today’s summit were Liberian President Mr Charles Taylor, who is under United Nations sanctions, and South African President Mr Thabo Mbeki, who officials said would arrive in Lusaka much later on today.