Sudan, Egypt, Libya to hold new Darfur talks

AFP Mar 8, 2006 reports Sudanese President Bashir is to hold a new mini-summit on the Darfur crisis with his Egyptian and Libyan counterparts ahead of an Arab summit in Khartoum later this month, presidential advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail said Tuesday. Excerpt:

"The summit shall be convened before the Arab summit and it may be held either in Cairo or Tripoli," Ismail told reporters after Cairo talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Ahead of the meeting, he had said he expected the mini-summit to be convened within 48 hours. But afterwards he did not elaborate on how soon before the March 28-29 summit it would go ahead.

The three leaders already met in Misrata, Libya on Febraury 28 and voiced strong opposition to Western plans to replace an African Union force in Darfur with UN peacekeepers. Ismail Tuesday reiterated Khartoum's strong opposition to the plans. "Sudan’s position on this issue is clear, and that is that the AU forces should remain in Darfur and carry on their duties," he said."

Photo: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi (C) receives Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (L) and Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir (R) as Libya hosts a two-day summit of African leaders on finding peace in Darfur, on May 16, 2005.

Mar 8, 2006 AngolaPress reports Egypt to host three-way summit on Darfur. Excerpt:

CAIRO,03/08 - Leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Libya will hold a three-way summit here next week to discuss the conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region, the official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday.

"A three-way consultative summit grouping Egypt, Libya and Sudan is to be held here (Cairo) next week," Sudanese presidential adviser Moustafa Othman Ismail was quoted as saying.

Ismail said that the three countries agreed to meet ahead of the upcoming Arab summit slated to be held in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on March 28-29.

Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Samani al-Wasila al-Sheikh on Tuesday reiterated his country's opposition to the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops in Darfur.

"The best solution to the problem is to provide more material and logistic aid to the African Union peacekeeping troops to help them carry out the mission," al-Wasila told the Cairo-based "Voice of the Arabs" radio by telephone from Khartoum.