Had it not been for good old Muammar Al-Gaddafi, of Libya, the club of the African heads of state would be one that is boring, even to the thousands of delegates themselves. Credit goes, in earnest, to him for spicing up the African Union (AU) summits - wherever they are held.

Coming to Addis though, Gaddafi, with his unpredictable reputation, has always been a source of stress to the Ethiopian security establishment, claims gossip. And his hosts never know what to expect or how to handle such a high profile guest.

True to his record, Gaddafi was hesitant upon arrival in Addis two weeks ago to head to the Sheraton Addis, where heads of state were expected to comfort themselves. Unexpectedly, he demanded to go straight to Kuriftu Lodge, in Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) Town, 45km southeast of Addis, disclosed gossip. After reserving the whole lodge all for himself and his entourage, no one knew whether he intended to drive from there to Addis to attend the summit.

But what he wanted from the summit was very clear. He became the first African Head of State to request re-election to chair the continental organisation for a second term in a row.

He did this, knowing the AU's charter, which is as good as a member state's constitution, would not allow such a mandate. Well, he might not have got it as he wished, but it is not fair to think that he would be the only leader in Africa with the desire to tamper with such documents in a bid to extend their leadership mandate.

The politics of constitutional mandates and the desire of African leaders to extend beyond such limits was a subject of interest to Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. In his speech after election to the AU chair, replacing Gaddafi, he took the odd initiative of criticising his peers over the temptation to tamper with constitutions in order stay in political power. In case he had failed to notice it, his remarks were not well taken in the eyes of Ismael Omar Guelleh, president of Djibouti, whose second term in office comes to an end in 2011, gossip disclosed.

Although Guelleh pledged, on several occasions, that he would not seek yet another term (which would require him to rewrite the constitution), developments in Djibouti show otherwise. And some of his country folk believe a nation's constitution is in none of the holy books of the major religions.

That could be the reason why Guelleh was seen walking out of the summit, in the midst of Mutharika's remarks criticising constitutional tampering, gossip reveals.

The latest AU Summit might have been promoted as focusing on the need to expand information technology with its leaders ill-informed that the very premises they had congregated at, the UNECA, has had such an ambitious but never intended to be delivered continental project for 30 years now. Never mind that, though.

Behind closed doors, the club of African big guys put Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, on the frying pan, for their alleged allegations that he sold the continent out to the rich world's interests at the Copenhagen global climate summit, revealed gossip. Gossip claims this allegation was orchestrated by delegates from Egypt, and of course supported by those from Sudan.

Other heads of states were not convinced, doubting the motive from Egypt. Its leaders always have a strong desire to let their leader, Hosni Mubarak, take the role of a leading African father figure, while Sudan's behaviour on the climate issue was largely shaped as a proxy to China, according to gossip.

But none among the heads of state stood as boldly in defense of Meles than South Africa's Jacob Zuma. Having the political and economic clout such as South Africa behind him, Zuma indeed saved the day for Meles, claims gossip.