/ 12 July 2001

WHERE DID YOU PUT THE CANDLES?

A FIVE -minute power outage at the closing ceremony of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit during an address by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi sent his security corps into a panic. Minutes before the end of his speech, a power cut plunged the Mulungushi conference centre into total darkness, prompting at least half a dozen of Gaddafi bodyguards to throw a tight security cordon around the podium from which he was speaking. Gaddafi resumed his speech after the lights came back on.