A speech by Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, set to kick off the World Leaders Forum today, has been called off.

The event, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. in Low Library, was cancelled “due to unforeseeable circumstances,” according to the forum’s Web site. The event was also sponsored by Columbia University’s Earth Institute. According to the Web site, the event had been registered to full capacity.

Kikwete, who has served as Tanzania’s president since 2005 as the leader of the leftist Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, has much on his agenda for his stay in New York. His schedule includes the U.N. General Assembly, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and an appointment with World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

“I’ve been looking forward to this event, and I signed up at 11:59 on the dot, so it was really frustrating to find out the event had been cancelled and not have an explanation,” Greer Feick, CC ’11, said.