Algerians attend a music performance by an African band in front of the "unknown soldier" memorial during the third day of the second Pan-African Cultural Festival (PANAF) in Algiers on July 7, 2009. Algeria is hosting the second (PANAF) at the request of the African Union, 40 years after the north African country staged the first such event, when several nations were still struggling for independence. More than 8,000 artists and writers from all over Africa, as well as Brazil and the United States, are descending on Algeria for a huge cultural festival that kicks off this weekend until July 20.