Maputo — The interim commissioner of the African Union (AU), Daniel Antonio, predicted on Thursday that there will be a "massive presence" of African heads of state and government at the AU's second summit, due to take place in Maputo in July.
This will be the largest international gathering ever hosted by Mozambique.
Speaking at a press conference, at the end of a visit to Maputo by an AU inspection team, checking on preparations for the summit, Antonio said there was no reason why every head of state and government from the continent should not attend the summit.
For there is nothing controversial about the choice of Maputo as the venue, and thus no indication that anyone will try and boycott the summit (unlike meetings of the AU's predecessor, the OAU in Lome, or in the Libyan town of Sirte).
"As far as I know, at the political level there's no reason for any boycott", said Antonio. "So the participation will be total, though there may be one or other country that does not attend because there is something else on its agenda".
Antonio stressed that the fact of his Mozambican nationality did not give Mozambique any special privileges or advantages inside the AU steering committee. He said the idea that because the 2002 summit took place in a southern African country (in Durban), the next one should be held in some other part of the continent was a thing of the past.
It had already been decided that up until at least 2008, AU summits will be held outside of the organisation's headquarters, in Addis Ababa. The venues for the summits in the years 2004-2007 are already known - they are Madagascar, Sudan, Uganda and Angola. "This is a decision that was inherited from the OAU, and we have no indication that this sequence will not be respected", said Antonio. He told reporters that the inspection team was pleased with the work already undertaken by the Mozambican government's Interministerial Commission that is preparing the summit.
"We looked into the questions of accommodation, protocol, security, health, border control and other matters important for holding the summit", he said. He thought the appropriate conditions were being created, and the services necessary for the summit would all be available.
The AU's director of conferences, M. Mustoofa, was also pleased with what the delegation had seen. But he insisted that the new conference centre under construction must be completed by April, as promised.
"We were informed that the conference chamber should be ready by April, and we will have all of May to inspect it, and see that everything is operational", said Mustoofa. "Since the summit will only be held in early July, there is plenty of time for everything to be ready".
"From what the engineers told us and showed us, we have a picture of what the conference centre will look like", he added.
"From what they told us, we will have adequate premises, and basic conditions for the various commissions to do their work".
