AP News, February 15th, 2007
How to tap and protect Africa's natural resources, the continent's role in the world and the information age's impact on African society are pressing themes as a summit of African leaders opens Thursday.
Talks between some 40 heads of state will also touch tougher subjects, including the killing in the Sudanese region of Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died in fighting that U.S. officials have described as genocide.
The office of French President Jacques Chirac _ who is hosting the summit _ said there would likely be a meeting Thursday between the heads of Sudan, Central African Republic and Chad about Darfur.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is expected at the summit. He has resisted United Nations' efforts to deploy some 22,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, where his regime is accused of masterminding a brutal counterinsurgency against the region's ethnic African tribes.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was not expected to attend: France appears keen to avoid the heat it took from human rights campaigners, Britain and other nations for inviting him to a similar summit in Paris in 2003.
Britain, the United States and the European Union have imposed travel and visa restrictions on Mugabe to protest alleged violations of human and democratic rights since 2000.
Meanwhile, a French investigating judge has summoned Djiboutian President Ismael Omar Guelleh for questioning Friday about the 1995 death of a French judge in that east African country.
Chirac's office said Wednesday that it expected Guelleh to come to the summit despite the summons. Since he enjoys immunity as president, he was not likely to report for questioning.
