By Edmund Blair
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Sudan's government has agreed with
African leaders meeting in Libya Sunday to do its best to end
the conflict in Darfur that has displaced about 1.5 million
people, a senior Egyptian official said.
But Maged Abdel Fattah, Egypt's presidential spokesman,
told reporters that Sudan needed more material and other
support to end the crisis in its western region and that such
help would be more useful than threatening sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council has threatened Sudan with
possible sanctions if it does not stop the violence. Aid
workers say increasing violence in Darfur is hindering vital
aid efforts.
"The government is doing its best in fulfilling its
obligations, and there is an agreement with the government that
it will do the best possible," Fattah said as leaders from
Sudan, Libya, Egypt, Chad and Nigeria met in Tripoli.
"Sudan cannot do all of these things alone and instead of
putting pressure on Sudan or threatening with sanctions ... we
should all try to help Sudan to implement its obligations in
accordance with resolutions," he said.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Sudan
had repeated earlier commitments such as agreeing to more
African Union monitors in Darfur, offering aid access and
deploying more police in the area.
"We think that it is a very successful summit," Ismail
said.
A closing communique said leaders welcomed Sudan's efforts
to implement commitments made to the United Nations and
"expressed hope" Khartoum would continue to take steps demanded
by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The leaders also gave their support to AU-sponsored peace
talks due to resume on Oct. 21 in Abuja between the government
and rebels, who launched their uprising in the in 2003. Talks
collapsed last month with both sides blaming each other.
CALLING FOR ASSISTANCE
Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, whose country is
the AU president, said the summit was "calling on all African
countries to contribute troops and also on the international
community to assist the Africans by giving logistic and
financial support."
The rebels have accused Khartoum of neglecting Darfur, a
vast and arid region where Arab nomads and African farmers have
long skirmished over scarce resources. The rebels say Sudan has
backed the Arab Janjaweed militia to attack non-Arab villages
and kill their inhabitants.
Khartoum denies supporting the Janjaweed, calling them
outlaws.
Before the leaders met, African ministers said both sides
needed to be pushed to find a solution to the conflict, which
the United Nations says has killed an estimated 70,000 people.
"It is necessary to put pressure on the two sides," Chad's
Foreign Minister Nagoum Yamassoum told Reuters.
The communique said the leaders had authorized Muammar
Gaddafi, the summit host who has championed African unity, to
contact groups in Darfur until a lasting solution was reached.
The rebels, who are suspicious of Chad and Egypt because
they view them as siding with Sudan, see Libya as a neutral
player who could play a role in resolving the dispute. They
also see Nigeria as an honest broker.
Although not attending the summit, Darfur rebels have
traveled to Tripoli at the invitation of Gaddafi, who they said
wanted to hear their concerns.
"We are going to accelerate and to facilitate the process
of peace and negotiation between all sides," Libyan Foreign
Minister Mohammed Abdel-Rahman Shalgam said before the summit.
