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OAU Summit to be Held in Lusaka as Scheduled: Official
Zambia is to play host to the summit of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) as scheduled, announced OAU head of conferences services Mohammed Mustoofa on Friday.
Allaying fears that the OAU venue would be shifted from Zambia' s capital Lusaka because of the on-going debate on whether or not President Frederick Chiluba should run for the third term, Mustoofa said that the summit will go ahead as planned.
He made the statement in Addis Ababa, where the OAU is based, and the statement appeared in Zambia's Times newspaper on Saturday.
The OAU summit is scheduled to be held in July, Mustoofa said, adding that the OAU does not involve itself in domestic politics and is not aware of any diplomatic pressure to have the Lusaka summit shifted elsewhere.
The Zambian government has assured the OAU that everything would be ready by June, and so far the OAU is satisfied with the preparations being made by that country for hosting the summit, said Mustoofa.
"We have been told the work on the extension of the conference hall, villas for heads of states and delegates, information centers and other facilities will be ready on time. A team will be going to Lusaka next month to carry out an evaluation and give the necessary advice where possible. Out role is to give advice and the rest depends on the host government."
"As for politics, we do not talk about local politics," concluded the OAU official.
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