Mubarak and Kadhafi discuss Sudan’s Darfur

Oct 16, 2006 (TRIPOLI) — Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks on how to resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan without intervention from outside Africa, Libyan officials said.

Their meeting in Tripoli focused on efforts “to find a settlement with the Sudanese government through the African Union (AU)”, one source said.

They were agreed on “rejecting any foreign intervention in Darfur”, coming out in support of Khartoum which opposes the planned deployment of UN peacekeepers.

At least 200,000 people have died from fighting, famine and disease since fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003 between ethnic minority rebels and Sudan’s armed forces backed by militia allies.

The Khartoum government is faced with mounting pressure from foreign envoys to accept a UN Security Council resolution passed in August that approved a 20,000-strong peacekeeping force in place of the overstretched AU troops.

Mubarak and Kadhafi last held a summit on February 28 in Misrata, east of the Libyan capital, following which they rejected the replacement of the AU force in Darfur by UN peacekeepers.

(AFP)