PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki will begin a week-long holiday on Thursday after the annual Organisation of African Unity summit in Algiers, his aide Ronnie Mamoepa said on Friday. Mbeki would return home on July 22 in time for the African National Congress’ national executive committee meeting that weekend. It is Mbeki’s first vacation since a gruelling election campaign that saw him close to exhaustion, followed by his inauguration and a month in office. Deputy President Jacob Zuma will be acting president in Mbeki’s absence. Mbeki, accompanied by his wife, Zanele, his legal adviser Mojanku Gumbi and Foreign Minister Nkosazana Zuma, are scheduled to attend the ceremony in the Zambian capital Lusaka on Saturday where the ceasefire agreement for the Democratic Republic of Congo will be signed.