African leaders have agreed to resume Sudanese peace talks by the end of May to try and end a conflict that has displaced more than two million people in Sudan's western Darfur region.
"I think the most important thing of this meeting is the decision to resume Abuja peace talks by the end of this month," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters yesterday.
"We have put in place a clearer road map to solve the problem in Darfur . . . to reach comprehensive peace," he said in the Libyan capital.
The leaders of Libya, Sudan, Eritrea, Nigeria, Egypt and a senior government official of Gabon attended the mini-summit under tight security. Nigeria is the current African Union U president, while most of the other countries border with Sudan.
Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy has acted as an intermediary to help boost confidence between the warring parties and iron out differences.
The Darfur conflict broke out two years ago when rebels took up arms against the Sudanese government, complaining of discrimination. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming militias who burned villages and killed and raped civilians.
At least 180,000 people have died from violence, hunger and disease, and two million have been driven from their homes.
A ceasefire signed in April 2004 has not held and Abuja peace talks sponsored by the African Union have stalled with no meetings taking place since December.
The two main Darfur rebel groups were in Tripoli but did not attend the meeting, which was restricted to government officials.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups reiterated they wanted to resume the stalled talks, dropping their conditions for new negotiations.