The Statesman has learnt that President Gaddafi refused to show up at the grand opening ceremony of the 9th African Union Summit because he was sulking from his special requests not being met.

In a meeting with President Kufuor Saturday, our diplomatic sources say the Libyan leader and prime mover of the 'Unity Now' agenda, asked to be allowed to give a speech at the opening ceremony.

His other request was for him to be seated conspicuously alone - behind all of the heads of state.

However, his requests could not be met. First, seating arrangements had already been done according to protocol. Also, the protocol has always been at AU Summits that three people, the AU Commission's chairperson, chairperson of the AU and the UN General Secretary are the only ones allowed to make speeches at opening ceremonies.

But, The Statesman has been reliably informed that the man who drove in a convoy all the way from his north African base to Ghana to attend this one item agenda summit, will certainly take part in the main discussions by the heads of state, which take place today and tomorrow.

Gaddafi is seen as the one carrying forward the Kwame Nkrumah dream of Pan-Africanism, with the ultimate objective of a United States of Africa, seeing that as the only way to address the continent’s struggle with poverty, diseases and challenges of globalisation.

Saturday, the Libyan leader gave a speech at the University of Ghana to rally support for a union government now.

He said, "For Africa, the matter is to be or not to be."

Describing himself as a "soldier for Africa," President Gaddafi told the students, "Our continent is backward, poor, suffering from illnesses, divided and exploited ... shall we allow such a situation to continue?"

Today’s archetypal Pan-Africanist told cheering activists and students, "My vision is to wake up the African leaders to unify our continent."

His support for a radical approach to integration is winning him grassroots support in Africa, but it is not shared by the majority of his colleagues at the AU Summit, pitching him against the like of South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki who is the main driver of the gradualist approach.

Support has come form an unusual quarter for Gaddafi. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has voiced backing for Libyan leader ambitions to turn the African Union into an EU-style bloc, Libya’s official JANA news agency said on Saturday.

Sarkozy is said to have telephoned Gaddafi Friday evening in Ghana.

The French president said he wished Gaddafi well in his efforts to achieve African unity and develop the continent, saying they were also goals of French foreign policy, it added.

The ninth summit of the organisation was formally opened by the union’s commission president Alpha Konare ahead of a speech by host President John Kufour.

The summit’s agenda is almost entirely devoted to reviewing the AU governance, only five years after the body was established.