To the delight of many Addis Abebans - particularly those who operate hotels, restaurants, souvenir stores and nightclubs - the latest summit of heads of state from member countries of the Africa Union (AU) will draw a record high number of delegates, according to estimates at gossip corridors. There are a few who put the number as high as 6,000 delegates. Addis is about to see the largest crowd in its history.

The security establishment has hardly any reason to be delighted, though. According to gossip, the strain resulting from managing the security of all the delegates, in particular of the heads of state, is all the more visible.

One man stands above his peers, claims gossip. One of - if not the - oldest serving leader in Africa, Col. Muammar al-Qadhafi, will send a shock of stress due to his reputation of bringing an entourage of close to 400 people. Close to 35 of them will be staying with him in his villa at the Sheraton Addis, where he will probably install. He may also prove to be as unpredictable as he always is about the places he would like to visit, gossip anticipates.

The other anticipation at the gossip corridor is the arrival of both Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa, and Jacob Zuma, his political rival who won the party’s presidency last month in a landslide.

Mr. Zuma may have the desire to learn on the fly what it will mean to have his glass raised among the league of African leaders even before his inevitable ascension to the throne, feels gossip corridor. He will have to have a physical presence around Africa’s unpopular leaders, such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabie, a man Mr. Zuma is reportedly not very fond of, unlike his would-be predecessor.

Kenya’s embattled leader, Mwai Kibaki, whom Prime Minister Meles had called in the aftermath of the electoral violence in Kenya, is expected to arrive, although his legitimacy to represent his country is put to bloody test in his country. Gossip corridors in Addis crack jokes that he may get a lesson or two how to survive his electoral debacle during his stay in Addis, if at all he has not been give one so far.

There are the usual suspects from the absentee list: Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, for obvious reasons, and Eritrea’s Issayas Afeworki, for reasons that are all the more clear at the gossip corridor, although a few have recalled Cuba’s Castro and Iran’s Ahmedjadin decisions to go to New York in order to attend United Nations’ (UN) summits in spite of their mutual disdain.

If Addis is to host the largest number of AU delegates this year, it will not be without reasons. Unlike the past summit when heads of state had the luxury of talking about climate change, among many other unimpressive issues, this time around there seems to be too much at stake, claims gossip. Member states have to decide on continuity or change, a thorny issue of its own for many in Africa: Heads of state will have to replace or keep Alpha Omar Conare as Commissioner of the AU.

Whether or not they remove him, the disclosure of audit report is highly anticipated by all those who have familiarity to the continental organisation, according to gossip. In the meantime, the delegates are in for as much fun as there could be for the Ethiopian millennium.