LIBYAN LEADER Moamer Kadhafi on Wednesday inaugurated one of Africa’s biggest mosque in the Ugandan capital whose foundation was laid by the country’s ex-dictator Idi Amin in the early 1970s.

Kadhafi, who celebrated the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed, chose the religious fete to open Kadhafi National Mosque which is situated in the capital’s Old Kampala Hill.

The actual ceremony took place in a football stadium. The mosque is reputed to be one of the largest in Africa and has a sitting capacity of at least 12,000 people. Construction was funded by the World Islamic Call Society, a Libyan nongovernmental organisation.

Uganda, a nation of about 30 million people, is a predominantly Christian nation.

The event in the capital’s football stadium was also attended by presidents Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Omar Bongo of Gabon, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Abeid Karume of Zanzibar, Abdullahi Yusuf of Somalia and Ismael Omar Guelleh of Djibouti.

Others included Pierre Nkrunziza of Burundi, Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali and Guinea’s Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate, according to an official statement.

Amin ordered building a great mosque on Kampala Hill, but the structure was never completed because money that had been earmarked for its construction was embezzled.