11.   Three African governments, lobbying for controlled trade in elephant ivory, have called for a secret vote on the issue at a crucial conservation conference opening Monday.

12.   Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan left Baghdad by car on Monday to represent his country at the Islamic conference opening Tuesday in Iran.

13.   Whether these endeavors will filter upward to the official conference opening Monday remains to be seen.

14.   Infrastructure needs in the GCC and other Arab states will be the main theme of the conference opening in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

15.   Israel radio this week reported that Levy could boycott a regional economic conference opening in Cairo next Tuesday.

16.   Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was to follow for the conference opening on Sunday to forge an Arab-Israeli economic partnership and a Middle East development bank.

17.   The conference opening Monday will include a message from UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and a speech by director-general Hans Blix.

18.   The message was again delivered here in a paper read at the conference opening on Saturday in the name of UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson.