AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT : REPORTER'S DIARY !

African Union leaders are meeting for a three-day summit in Accra, Ghana. The BBC's Will Ross is recording his experiences at the convention in a diary.

MONDAY 2 JULY1030 GMT I have headed to a church hall in Osu where President Robert Mugabe is due to speak a little later on at an event organised by a pan-Africanist Movement.
On the way along the narrow streets, men are pushing around wooden carts laden with water drums.
We need Mugabe, we need him forever - Ghanaian woman. Access to clean water is a real problem in the Ghanaian capital and many people have to pay more than 10 US cents a bucketful.
Outside the church hall reggae music is playing and there are a few men and one woman wearing orange T-shirts with pictures of Robert Mugabe and Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's independence leader and pan-Africanist. They tell me the BBC's coverage of Zimbabwe is biased but agree to talk.
"Robert Mugabe represents freedom for Africa. You can't have a very small percentage of white people, westerners, owning 90% of the land - that's not on. Africa is for the Africans.
"White people are always welcome here, don't get me wrong. We don't hate anybody but the percentage of our land has to belong to us."
Robert Mugabe has had close ties with Ghana - his late first wife was Ghanaian.
A woman at the church hall is from the same town, Sekondi, and tells me she got to know the Zimbabwean president as he visited the area every year.
"The world is misrepresenting him. We need a leader like Mugabe to lead Africa because Africa is for Africans.
"The land belongs to us. He is the right man to fight for us. We need Mugabe, we need him forever."
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Another man tells me he has been living in Ghana since 1999 and before that lived in the UK for 38 years so he tells me he knows and understands British behaviour very well.
"Whenever Europeans give praise to a black leader then we realise that black man is not doing his job concerning his people. The very fact that the white world is against Mr Mugabe is a plus for us.
"AU is a good thing but I have one concern. Will Africa be united as a neo-colonialist block or will it be united as a free Africa."
"No African owns vast amounts of farmland in Europe or America. No African can, so I don't see why Europeans should come and take our gold, our bauxite, our rubber, our timber, our oil."
After he tells me the sanctions against Mugabe should be lifted, I mention that on the car radio I had just heard an interview with a Zimbabwean man saying he was trained by the security forces in Zimbabwe to torture people including locking somebody in a truck and dumping the truck in a lake.
"Mr Mugabe is fighting for his people - therefore the white world will concoct any kind of story. I would not believe that Mr Mugabe himself sanctioned it."
We wait to see if Robert Mugabe attends the meeting. He has already spoken here of the need for better African unity, stating that aid will never allow Africa to prosper.
0930 GMT The motorcades are back at the conference centre ferrying in the presidents - it is a closed session, so no media access.
0100 GMT Loud sustained gunfire in Accra. No no. Alarm over! It's a fireworks display but from where I am it's all bangs and no lights.
SUNDAY 1 JULY 1615 GMT I get a chance to interview Don McKinnon, the secretary general of the Commonwealth.
On the issue of a pan-African government he tells me, "Some African leaders want it tomorrow but I'm not sure they are in the majority."
In fact when it comes to the speed of integration we have a clear hare and tortoise scenario. Muamar Gadaffi is the only out and out hare but it would seem he is outnumbered by the tortoises.
I asked Don McKinnon if he was worried that Darfur had been nudged off the agenda by the United States of Africa debate. He points out that it was on the agenda last time and says that was very much the reason why Sudan didn't get the AU presidency. "The fact is leaders are much more acutely conscious of what others are thinking about their actions," he tells me.
But what about the fact that President Bashir hasn't shown up in Ghana?
The Commonwealth chief says he can't comment on that but adds:
"African politics is no different from other politics around the world - there are a lot of personalities involved, a lot of egos involved and a lot of history. Sometimes we forget some of things that happened 30 or 40 years ago between African states are still very raw in their minds and that's just a human characteristic."
1530 GMT We have failed to interview any foreign ministers, let alone presidents, but hopefully the security level may be lowered a millimetre or two tomorrow to enable us to at least catch a distant glimpse of a politician without facing the wrath of the men with guns. I'll bring binoculars just in case.
Many tortoises, but few hares to be seen at the AUThe head of the United Nations Refugee Agency has agreed to an interview. I asked if he was disappointed issues like Darfur were not high on the summit agenda. But Antonio Guterres did not seem too worried and he says it is no surprise that President Bashir has not turned up, given that the AU chairmanship was taken away from Sudan over the Darfur issue - a move which one journalist told me was perhaps the only significant achievement of the AU since its creation.
Mr Guterres disagrees and suggests without the AU the recent acceptance by Sudan to allow a joint AU UN peacekeeping force into Darfur wouldn't have happened and nor would we be at a stage where peace talks are possible.
There are many who find the whole idea of a United States of Africa nothing more than a fanciful recurring dream.
And judging by the photo one journalist snapped of Robert Mugabe taking a snooze during the opening of the summit, there may have been a few dreams going on there too. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzimbabwe.
A colleague suggests the leaders' snoozes should be timed and a table of the top dreamers compiled.
But the head of the UN refugee agency is glad African integration is being discussed.
"Political economic and social integration is the best way we know in the world both for the effective promotion of developments and for the prevention of conflicts and to solve conflicts."
1430 GMT Journalists were barred from the opening ceremony. News of a gift from China for Africa. The meeting apparently ended with a presentation about the buildings that China is going to construct for the AU. A multi-storey building headquarters in Addis Ababa is on the list.
1410 GMT News starts to trickle out of what's been going on inside the venue. Ghana's President John Kufuor said that given the formation of political and economic groupings on other continents, Africa can be said to be running against time in its efforts at integration. But he did not say how far he thinks the integration should go or at what speed. He didn't say if he was in the hare camp like Gaddafi or if he is in the tortoise camp.
1315 GMT The presidents are leaving the venue and heading off for lunch. They are not due back here until tomorrow but we assume they won't get a 20-hour lunch. I have just found out that there are many late-comers. The Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, for example, is not due in Ghana until tonight.
1240 GMT A Ghanaian lady dressed in pink is at the head of a group of frustrated journalists walking towards the venue entry with a petition calling for access. It doesn't seem to be working and the arguments with the security guards are getting louder.
1115 GMT Although we were supposed to be able to access the opening ceremony, journalists were barred and have been sent away to the media tent. The media, unlike Colonel Gaddafi, is tiring of life in a tent. It is frustrating and difficult to find out what is happening inside the venue.
0945 GMT The sirens are getting louder and the presidents' convoys are beginning to screech into the venue with more security guards, these ones jogging beside the cars.
Ghanaian President John Kufuor gave the opening speech.

0740 GMT Not happy has now turned to fury. "We told you to move. Now remove them," yells the security co-ordinator as his deputies march off with our satellite equipment under their arms. If they had stayed long enough I would have told them it's not wise to hug a satellite disk when it is switched on, unless you're trying a new form of contraception.
0730 GMT Ghanaian security officials are not happy with the position we've chosen for our live reporting for BBC World. Our camera is under a tree, about 150m from the conference centre. We've been asked to move to the back of the venue - which would be ideal if we happened to be making a documentary about a day in the life of a catering company but not ideal for our needs.
0700 GMT Heading for the venue the long way round, roads are blocked off all over the place.
SATURDAY 30 JUNE
Gaddafi has chosen to stay in a tent rather than a presidential lodge.
2330 GMT As Muammar Gaddafi zips up his tent somewhere in Accra the other leaders getting ready for the three-day African Unity debate are probably pacing up and down their brand new homes learning the words for "Not so fast Muammar."
2000 GMT On the radio I learn the list of presidents not attending the summit has grown to at least two.
The Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, is not turning up and that has caused some anger here. More than 40 Ghanaians died in mysterious circumstances in the Gambia two years ago and there have been allegations that the Gambian security services were involved.
With no investigation yet carried out, many here believe the Gambian leader has decided to stay at home to avoid awkward questions.
His claim that he can cure Aids by laying his hands on people and administering his own herbal remedy is also unlikely to face a close examination any time soon.
The other leader not attending is Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He is attending the funeral of a colleague but not surprisingly there are also accusations that he is choosing to stay out of the firing line - on Darfur.
The absence of the Gambian leader has caused some anger.
He is instead sending long range verbal missiles from Khartoum via a satellite news conference beamed around the world.
"Sudan has enemies who want to tear Sudan and seize its wealth, especially oil, and because of this we are targeted by organised media campaigns that broadcast to the world that there has been genocide and ethnic cleansing," he has said.
1715 GMT Waiting for a lift back to the conference centre I am handed a piece of paper.
It reads: "Pan Afrikan United Front warmly invites you to an international solidarity forum for Zimbabwe . Come and hear the truth about the fight against neo-colonialism and imperialism in Zimbabwe. Special Guest: Prez. Robert Mugabe. Solidarity dress code black trousers or skirts."
1700 GMT As the red carpet is rolled up I interview a few members of the audience.
Most love the idea of African Unity and are glad Gaddafi is trying to push it, but they tell me it is not going to happen soon.
"If our leaders cannot sort out Darfur then how will they come together to solve the continent's problems," one student tells me.
1650 GMT The shades are back on and the Libyan leader is off amid loud cheers.
1530 GMT The crowd start cheering but then realise the man who has just walked into the room is a Gaddafi look alike - maybe he was sent in to test whether he would make a good body double.
If he had borrowed the Colonel's shades he would have got a bigger cheer.
Gaddafi is not far behind and arrives clenched fist in the air wearing a shirt emblazoned with the face of Pan African leaders.
Several serious looking women in army boots and camouflage guard have taken up positions guarding the stage and their eyes are darting around the room at an astonishing rate.
Gaddafi wants one government for the whole continent.
"Slogan Slogan" shouts one of his aides from the stage. "Long Live Gaddafi. Long Live Gaddafi," he adds. The crowd catch on slowly.
After about 99 introductory speeches, Muammar Gaddafi takes the microphone and shocks us all by starting off his speech in English.
"I am just a soldier for Africa. I am just a citizen of Africa like you," he says.
His message is clear and the crowd like it - he wants Africa to unite and to form one government for the whole continent.
He seems rather worried about African countries facing imminent invasion by a foreign force and so he calls for a Pan African army of two million soldiers.
"No one can attack Luxembourg," he declares. I must admit I did not expect to be scribbling the word Luxembourg in my notebook today but his point is that because Luxembourg is in the EU and Nato, Luxembourg is safe from attack (even by China, he says).
1500 GMT Gaddafi seems to be on the way and the security men - mostly suited Libyans with dyed black hair - are getting twitchy.
I have just been politely called into a room off the hall to be frisked - I decline, saying a public frisk is as good as he is getting.
More security men are called over and the politeness is disappearing but I insist I will not be disappearing into a room with the men in the suits.
1440 GMT The main university hall is packed and many people are wearing T-shirts with Gaddafi's face on them.
With free T-shirts and buses ferrying people to the venue - it could be an election anywhere in Africa . But hang on a minute, there is no election in Ghana so what is the Colonel up to?
He is campaigning for the mama of all elections - the United States Of Africa.
1400 GMT Presidents from around the continent have been jetting in for the three-day African Union Summit.
But I am heading to Legon University to find an African leader who decided not come by air, although he may have used up more fuel than a Jumbo.
Muammar Gaddafi came by road in a huge convoy via Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast and apparently he is not staying in one of the newly-built presidential lodges, he has brought a tent - not a two-man tent I suppose.
BBC NEWS REPORT.