Egyptian foreign minister discusses Darfur with Kadhafi

CAIRO, July 25 (AFP) — Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and the head of the country’s intelligence service Sunday held high-level talks in Libya on the situation in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, the minister said.

“We held a two-hour meeting with Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi during which we reviewed the situation in Africa, notably in the Darfur region,” Abul Gheit told reporters on his return from the brief visit along with intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman.

“The question of Darfur was the subject of a profound exchange of views,” he said.

Egypt shares a border with Sudan to the south and with Libya to west.

The United Nations says up to 50,000 people have died since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum broke out among black African ethnic minorities in Darfur in February 2003.

Abul Gheit said he passed on a message from Hosni Mubarak to Kadhafi, who in turn gave the minister a message to take to the Egyptian president.

The meeting took place in Syrte, 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of Tripoli, Abul Gheit said.

It was the first official overseas trip by Abul Gheit since he was appointed on July 10.