Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — In a bid to amplify the need for leadership at all levels against HIV/AIDS beyond the conference rooms, several African musicians will next Wednesday feature at a musical extravaganza in Addis Ababa.

Sponsored by the Economic Commission for Africa and the Sheraton Addis, the concert will feture Femi Kuti, Ismael Lo, Hugh Masekela and other renowned African musicians.

Femi Kuti, currently Nigeria's most renowned singer, lost his father to AIDS, and is an ardent African campaigner against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

"The aim of the performance is to amplify the African Development Forum's central message, "The need for leadership at all levels against HIV/AIDS" beyond the conference rooms, and to a wider group of Africans, the ECA said in a statement.

Channel O, the 24-hour music channel of the Electronic Media Network (MNet), also a co-sponsor, will rebroadcast the concert to a larger audience throughout the continent.

In addition, three channel O VJs (Video Jockeys), who are well known throughout Africa as youth icons, will endorse the African Development Forum 2000 message on TV and live during the concert.

The concert is one among the several events to be conducted along the sidelines of the second African Development Forum, which this year, will be organised under the theme: "AIDS: The Greatest Leadership challenge".

The Forum, scheduled 3-7 December at the ECA in Addis Ababa, will gather four African leaders, including the Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Abdoulaye Wade Senegal, two countries with exemplary work in combating HIV/AIDS.

Also expected at the Forum are UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Ruwandese President Paul Kagame, as well as Peter Piot, director of the UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS.