HAVANA (Reuters) -- Scores of leaders from Africa, Asia and Latin
                   America were headed for on Monday on Havana for one of the largest-ever
                   Third World gatherings, intended to set a new, united agenda for narrowing
                   global wealth inequalities.

                   More than 65 heads of state from the133 member nations of the Group of
                   77 -- so-called because of the group's 1964 founding with 77 members --
                   were expected to attend the five- day "South Summit" hosted by Cuban
                   President Fidel Castro.

                   Senior officials began meeting on Monday morning at a Havana conference
                   center to prepare documents for Tuesday's gathering of foreign ministers. That
                   will be followed by a three-day meeting between heads of state starting on
                   Wednesday.

                   Issues of Third World foreign debt, unequal wealth distribution, limited
                   technological access and lack of representation on international political bodies
                   were expected to dominate the official agenda.

                   Although Cuba was acting as host, Nigeria, as current president of the G77, was
                   chairing the meeting, the first full summit in the group's existence.

                   "Let it be known that the Group of 77 is determined to carry on the fight to
                   create a fair world society and open the doors to a new, international alliance in
                   favor of the prosperity and well-being of all humanity," Nigerian official Chief
                   Arthur Mbanefo, who is current head of the G77 at its New York base, told
                   reporters.

                   "The main concerns and challenges that united the South into a cohesive group
                   almost four decades ago are ... unfortunately, still with us," he added.

                   U.N. General Secretary General Kofi Annan was due to fly into Havana on
                   Monday night to attend the meeting.

                   Besides Castro, other well-known Third World leaders scheduled to attend
                   included Palestine's President Yasser Arafat, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
                   Mohamad, Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, Zimbabwean
                   President Robert Mugabe, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Venezuelan
                   President Hugo Chavez.

                   Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would also "probably" attend, Mbanefo said.

                   Various heads of state arrived in Cuba over the weekend, including the leaders of
                   Vietnam, Cambodia and Nigeria.

                   The official topics of the meeting are globalization, north-south relations,
                   south-south cooperation, and technology.

                   Much of the attention, however, will focus on national issues and bilateral
                   meetings such as that planned between Venezuela's self-styled "peaceful
                   revolutionary" Chavez and Palestine's Arafat, or between Zimbabwe's Mugabe
                   and South Africa's Mbeki to discuss the white farmland crisis in Zimbabwe.

                   Cuba's veteran communist leader Castro, 73, always generates huge media
                   attention at international events. He was hosting his third major international
                   event in as many years.

                   Six months ago, Castro welcomed heads of state from Latin America, Spain and
                   Portugal to the 1999 Ibero-American Summit. And the previous year, in what
                   was a diplomatic triumph for long-isolated Cuba, Pope John Paul paid a historic
                   first visit to the Caribbean island.

                   The G77's "South Summit" is likely, however, to focus primarily on Third World
                   issues, without the same scrutiny of Cuba's one-party communist system that
                   occurred during last year's Ibero-American Summit.

                   Cuban dissidents, who seized on the Ibero-American Summit as a focus for
                   protests, are keeping a low profile.

                   Around 500 foreign journalists are covering the G77 summit, although if the
                   custody dispute over Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez ends this week,
                   many of them are ready to abandon the conference for the airport to cover his
                   arrival.

                   "It's sad, but true, that Elian Gonzalez has generated far more interest around the
                   world, than this summit, which represents a great proportion of the world's
                   population," a Havana-based diplomat said.

                   G77 president Mbanefo said Cuba, one of the most vociferous and radical critics
                   of global wealth inequalities, was an ideal setting for the summit. "The fact still
                   remains that most of the south feels the same way as Cuba," he told reporters.

                   Some 80 international organizations, and 56 countries who are not members of
                   the Group of 77 are also invited to the summit of the largest Third World
                   coalition in the United Nations.