US Vice President Al Gore and prominent African leaders, including former South African president Nelson Mandela, will address the 15-member UN Security Council on a series African issues this month. Gore will preside over this year’s first public council meeting on Monday, the first US vice president in history to do so. The meeting will be on the Aids scourge afflicting many parts of the continent, which is the first time the council has focused on a health issue. One key event is expected to be on Jan. 24 when African presidents involved in peace negotiations for the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been invited to attend a meeting that may be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, herself a former ambassador to the United Nations.