ABUJA, Oct 30 (AFP) - African leaders are to meet in the Nigerian capital to discuss putting into practice the continent's own plan to escape the poverty trap, Nigeria said Wednesday. Heads of state and government from 20 African countries have been invited to attend Sunday's meeting in Abuja to discuss the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). NEPAD, which was drawn up by African presidents, has been welcomed by the leaders of the rich world and adopted by the UN General Assembly as a blueprint for Africa's development. Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo, who is chairman of NEPAD's implementation committee, will host the meeting. His fellow NEPAD architects Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria and Mohammed Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, have also been invited. President Paul Biya of Cameroon is also invited. If he comes it will be the first time he and Obasanjo have met since the World Court awarded Cameroon a disputed peninsula on the Nigerian border. Obasanjo has rejected the judgement, and Nigeria has refused to withdraw its forces from the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, but both sides say they are ready for talks on the issue. Some 15 more African leaders have also been invited either as committee members or observers, along with Amara Essy, the interim chairman of the Commission of the African Union. Top of the agenda will be putting into practice a "peer review mechanism" under which African leaders can hold their colleagues to account under NEPAD's prescribed standards of good governance. Under this system any African leader who fails to live up to promises of open, accountable, democratic government could be sanctioned by his peers, the statement said. Earlier this month, 60 African economy ministers met in Johannesburg, South Africa, to fashion ways to implement NEPAD in their respective countries, it also said. They adopted a declaration backing self-monitoring among African states and identified other priorities such as building infrastructure through subregional projects, cooperation between parliaments and private and civil sectors to reduce poverty, and integrating Africa into the global economy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~