LUSAKA, Sept 12 (AFP) - African heads of state snubbed the international conference on AIDS in Africa that opened here Sunday, with not one of the invited leaders showing up at the opening ceremony.
No head of state, not even host Zambian President Frederick Chiluba, who had been expected until Sunday morning to officially inaugurate the meeting, was at the event.
No official explanation was given for his absence at the conference, which has attracted some 5,000 delegates from Africa and abroad.
Conference sources said Chiluba had left the capital Sunday morning for a meeting with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leader Laurent Kabila in the north of Zambia.
The conference was instead addressed by Zambian Vice President Christone Tembo.
Mozambique and Swaziland were represented by their prime ministers, while Malawi was represented by Vice President Justin Malewezi.
Most of the countries including worst-hit Zimbabwe and South Africa were represented by their health ministers.
According to Zambian foreign affairs officials, Cuban leader Fidel Castro was slated to be the guest of honour at the conference, the 11th international meeting on AIDS in Africa, which also invited at least 10 heads of state from countries in east and southern Africa, the hardest hit region in the world.
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