African political and business leaders were confident yesterday that Nepad, the continent's economic recovery programme, was on the right track, but they warned of marginalisation in a rapidly changing world.

Speaking on the opening day of the World Economic Forum's Africa Economic summit in Durban, Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano warned global powers, such as the US, that they would suffer if they ignored Africa's poor.

That country, the "mega-power" of the world, would not be sustainable if its wealth and political wisdom served Americans alone, he said.

"If they had to come and put their big feet on top of those who are at this side (Africa) and just watch them, in the end they will have no support in the world.

"The only way for the USA to be of big value is to accept equality, and to accept equity".

Chissano said the US-led war in Iraq had led to immediate consequences for Africa, as the "real problems" of the world had been neglected.

Hilde Frafjord Johnson, Norway's Minister of International Development, said a situation had to be avoided in which assistance that would have been directed to Africa was sent, rather, to Iraq.

"If we look at all the global challenges we have, the greatest global challenge is poverty, it is poverty eradication. There is no way that terrorism or any other international event will change that fact, because it is a fact," she said.

More than 600 delegates from some 40 countries are meeting in the East Coast city for the WEF's yesraly summit, which this year, again, focuses on the New Partnership for Africa's Development(Nepad).

The forum hopes the gathering will help turn Nepad's plans into actions.

South African president Thabo Mbeki, who leads a top-level government delegation from the country, is due to speak today and tomorrow.

Nepad steering committee chairman Wiseman Nkuhlu said there had been progress in building interest amongst business leaders to invest in the continent.

The finalisation of a comprehensive document detailing the criteria for Nepad's crucial peer review mechanism, in March, had been an important development.

"I believe the document is in a class of its own... for me it was a major step forward, it showed we are serious about making Nepad work," he said.

Eskom chairperson Reuel Khosa told delegates a lot of businesses had embraced corporate social responsibility in cooperation with government, as key principles under Nepad.

A WEF survey, conducted ahead of this week's conference, has found that more than 80% of business and civil society representatives at the 2002 meeting are more optimistic about the economic outlook for Africa now than a year ago.

The vast majority see Nepad as central to Africa's future success, but more than three-quarters of the participants are growing impatient with its slow progress, it found.

Despite the risk it held for Nepad, the continuing political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe will not, officially, be discussed at this year's meeting.

"There was a conscious decision not to put Zimbabwe on the programme," Haiko Alfeld, WEF's director for Africa told reporters.

He said the WEF had consulted widely and it was not felt that putting Zimbabwe on the summit programme would make a constructive contribution to mediation efforts being undertaken to resolve it problems.

However, Zimbabweans made up the second largest country delegation at the meeting, Alfeld said.

Observers have warned in the past that a failure to deal with the turmoil in Zimbabwe could affect perceptions of African leaders' commitment to good governance and the rule of law.

That country fared poorly in a study by the forum on good governance among African nations, ranking 16th of 21 countries surveyed, with its judiciary seen as the least independent in the region.

Botswana topped the list, while its neighbour South Africa came in fourth - below Tunisia and Gambia, and ahead of Mauritius and Eqypt.

Botswana was ranked as being the least corrupt and best in adhering to contracts and the rule of law.

According to the WEF, South Africa's was seen as the third least corrupt nation in Africa, but the overall perception of the country was dragged down by the high-perceived costs linked to organised crime.

Nigeria and Chad propped up the list as having the worst public institutions. – Sapa.