KUALA LUMPUR, MAY 30, Reuter - Malaysia's most opulent hotel has been turned into a fortress, swapping champagne buckets for machine guns in readiness for some of the developing world's most respected leaders.

The capital Kuala Lumpur bristled with troops on Tuesday as delegates began to arrive for the first summit meeting of the Group of 15, which aims to spearhead Third World unity and give developing nations more clout on the world stage.

They will meet from June 1-3 in the grandeur of the Carcosa, a gracious turn-of-the-century mansion whose 930-dollar a night four-poster beds have been warmed by the likes of Britain's Queen Elizabeth.

Between them the 15 countries owe a great slab of the world's debt but control relatively little of its trade. Officials have said the talks aim to forge a common stand that will give them the power to redress that imbalance.

Even delegates were kept out of the building on Tuesday, the day before senior officials' meetings were scheduled to begin, as military guards swept the hotel and grounds for bombs.

"They're up there looking in every nook and cranny," said one guard. His colleague apologised for holding up journalists, some 300 of whom are expected, for identity checks.

"I'm sorry, but you never know who's an assassin," one guard said.

As helicopters swooped over the city, guests at smart hotels around town where the leaders will stay were put through metal detectors and their baggage X-rayed.

"I've only been out shopping for souvenirs, for goodness sakes," was the plaintive protest from one well-dressed tourist.

And all this well before the real brass arrived. The first head of state due in was Senegalese President Abdou Diouf, scheduled to arrive this evening.

The leaders of Algeria, Argentina, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe were to arrive on Thursday, a day before the start of the summit proper.

Former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere, the grand old man of development politics, will be at the talks in his capacity as chairman of the South Commission think-tank, together with delegations from Brazil, Egypt, Jamaica, Mexico and Peru.