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Chavez to attend African Union summit
AFP
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 06 29 06
President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday he had been invited to attend the summit of the African Union July 1-2 in Banjul, where he will deliver the opening speech.
"I have been invited this weekend to the African Union summit, at the insistence of Gambian President" Yahya Jammeh, Chavez said in an interview on national radio by telephone shortly after midnight Monday.
Venezuela's deputy Foreign Minister for Africa Reinaldo Bolivia said Chavez had been designated a "special guest" of the AU summit and was to give its opening speech.
"Africa has shown us a lot of solidarity," Chavez said, adding that "nearly all of Africa voted for us," when Venezuela made its failed bid to join the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Venezuela is hoping for an equal show of support for its current bid to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, after Argentina vacates its place as representative of Latin America.
The United States is opposing Venezuela's nomination, which will be voted on by the UN General Assembly.
Chavez on Friday announced he would visit North Korea to sign some bilateral agreements on technological and scientific matters. He did not say when the visit would take place.
On Monday, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack reacted to Chavez' announcement saying: "I'm not sure what it is that he would hope to get from the North Koreans."
He warned that if Venezuela's relations with North Korea "involved the transfer of military technologies ... certainly that would be a concern."
AFP 27 1151 GMT 06 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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