PRETORIA, April 26: Several heads of state, mostly from Africa, arrived in South Africa Monday to attend a gala party the following day to mark the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid as well as the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki for a final term.

The first to arrive was Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, who landed here on Sunday along with his wife and foreign minister. On Monday, a succession of heads of state - President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar, Gabon's long-serving leader Omar Bongo, Assoumani Azali from the Comores and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea - landed here.

King Letsie II from the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho and Jorge Battle Ibanez of Uruguay were among the other guests to reach here Monday. Among vice presidents there was Bhairon Singh Shekhawat from India, Bulgaria's Angel Marin and Isatou Ngie-Saidy from the Gambia.

Princess Astrid from Belgium, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Mauritius Premier Paul Berenger were the other notable arrivals. Tuesday's 13-million-dollar jamboree in the Union Buildings of South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria is due to be attended by some 40,000 guests.

Mbeki will also take oath for a second and final term after leading the African National Congress to its biggest election win in ten years of power. The former liberation movement turned political party garnered almost 70 percent of the vote in the April 14 polls, the third democratic polls in South Africa after the demise of apartheid in 1994. -AFP