Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe told reporters here yesterday that all was set for the two-day summit, which opens around midmorning. President Kikwete, who is the current chairperson of the African Union, is chairing the summit.

Mr Membe said the main agenda would be the proposal made during the last AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to form a Union government for Africa aimed at accelerating political and economic integration of the continent. Although the meeting is mainly focused on the union government, chances are some of the most recent conflicts in the continent would also feature.

The Zimbabwean post election crisis, which has so far reportedly claimed 34 lives, and resulted in the internal displacement of thousands of opposition supporters after attacks by suspected militia and supporters of President Robert Mugabe, could be also be put forward for discussion. And most recently the attacks on foreigners in South Africa in which more than 24 foreigners have been killed, and thousands more displaced, are likely to be discussed. But minister Membe, who is the current chairperson of the AU Executive Council (Foreign Affairs), said the summit would stick to the proposed Union government for Africa. However, he could not rule out the discussion of other urgent matters on the sidelines.

The summit takes place at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, some 30 kilometres east of Arusha. Heads of state from Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, South Africa and Tanzania are expected to attend. President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, were expected here last evening. Others would arrive early morning today before the meeting open around 10 am. Several diplomats and some senior government officials were already here by midday yesterday.

It was not clear whether the likes of Mr Muammar Gadaffi, the Libyan leader, who has never set foot in Tanzania, and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, who briefly visited the country in 1984 and the recently elected Nigerian President, will come in person or would be represented by their deputies. But Mr Gadaffi is a well-known proponent of the African government. Recommendations of today's meeting would be presented to the AU Summit scheduled to take place in the Egypt in July this year. The 12 leaders would also consider the report of the 12th Ordinary Session of the AU Executive Council, which met in Arusha recently.

The AU Foreign Affairs ministers' meeting, which was held in Arusha early this month, discussed various ways to strengthen AU organs and institutions in a bid to enhance political and economic integration of the world's poorest continent. AU organs include the secretariat commission at the headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Pan African Parliament, African Court of Justice and the Economic and Social Commission. Regional Economic Communities in the continent were also assessed at the meeting with the purpose of making them more effective as building blocs, as well as aligning their programmes with those of the AU and NEPAD. Prof Adebayo Adedeji of Nigeria, who is also a former executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) was picked to lead a team of experts to audit the AU organs.

Zephania Ubwani Arusha