A Stately Boston University Gathering

...Little Richard's big splash; keyed up at Fenway
A PRESIDENTIAL CONVENTION: When six former African heads of state gather tomorrow for a press conference at Boston University's School of Management, it will be a historic convening for the area.

''Outside of New York City and the United Nations, it's unprecedented to have this many former heads of state gathering in the United States. It's quite a coup for Boston,'' said Charles Stith , a longtime Boston activist and President Bill Clinton's ambassador to Tanzania, who now heads BU's African archives.

Those gathering for the two-day summit (and the press conference) are: Nicephore Soglo of Benin; Sir Q. Ketumile Masire of Botswana; Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania; Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam of Mauritius; and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, the BU African Presidential Archives and Research Center Balfour African president-in-residence.

The former political leaders will be joined at the two-day summit by Walter Kansteiner , assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Andrew Natsios , director of the US Agency for International Development; and James Harmon , former chairman of the Export-Import Bank, to explore how to attract business and increase the flow of capital to Africa. We're told time has been set aside to discuss the short-term impact of the war in Iraq on African economies.