AFRICAN Union Commission deputy chairman Mr Erastus Mwencha yesterday paid a courtesy call on Acting President John Nkomo and briefed him on the upcoming African Union Summit to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr Mwencha arrived in Harare yester- day leading a three-member AUC delega-tion.

The AU summit runs from January 29-31 under the theme "Boosting Intra-African Trade".

"First of all, this delegation of the African Union Commission is here in the context of the upcoming summit to be held in Addis Ababa. "On the agenda of the summit is boosting intra-African trade.

"We are here to brief the Heads of State and Government on that agenda and to prepare them for the summit," Mr Mwencha said.

He said it was important to unite regional African groupings like Sadc, Comesa, among others, in order to boost trade on the continent.

Mr Mwencha said while the upcoming AU summit would be focused on boosting trade, it was also going to debate other issues like the conflict between Kenya and Somalia and such issues like climate change.

Kenya has its army in Somalia fighting Al Shabab, a militant Islamist group that has destabilised that country for years.