TRIPOLI - An African mini-summit in Tripoli on peace efforts for Sudan's war-torn Darfur region ended Tuesday with an agreement to resume talks between rebels and Khartoum on May 30.
African leaders at the seven-way summit also offered strong political support to Sudan's government, ignoring calls by Darfur's ethnic minority rebels to try the presumed perpetrators of war crimes in international courts.
They also insisted that Africa should take the lead in trying to restore peace in Darfur and rejected calls for suspected war criminals should be tried by international justice.
An estimated 300,00 people have been killed and 2.4 million displaced since Khartoum launched a crackdown on an uprising by ethnic rebels in February 2003.
"It has been decided that the Abuja round of peace talks should commence May 30, 2005," Nigerian Minister of State for Integration Lawan Gana said at a news conference at the end of the summit.
African Union-sponsored negotiations in the Nigerian capital have been suspended since December because of repeated violations of a ceasefire signed in April 2004.
The Tripoli summit brought together Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Chad's President Idriss Deby, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Eritrea's Isaias Afeworki and Gabon vice president Didjob Divungi di Ndinge.
Darfur's two main rebels, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), did not attend, although their representatives were in town.
Ali al-Tiriki, the Libyan official in charge of African affairs, admitted there were no prior consultations with rebels on the date for the resumption of talks, but said: "I do not believe that there will be a problem."
The SLM reiterated on Monday its "readiness for serious and responsible negotiations in Abuja under the auspices of the African Union".
It also underscored a "commitment to implement all agreements with Khartoum, including the ceasefire".
The summit's final statement urged the parties to take part in the talks "with representatives who are mandated at the highest possible level."
"All the countries represented at the summit agreed to send delegations to attend the Abuja talks and contribute in narrowing the views between the negotiators," Beshir said.
The SLM had urged summit participants to pressure Khartoum to implement all UN resolutions so "Sudan does not become a safe haven for criminals".
The UN Security Council demanded last March the prosecution in the International Court of Justice in The Hague of presumed Darfur war criminals.
But the African leaders sympathized with Sudan's refusal to hand over any of the 51 suspects implicated by a UN commission in human rights violations including mass killings, torture, rape and pillage.
The final statement supported "bringing all crime perpetrators in Darfur within the framework of national legal and judicial systems."
Al-Tiriki said: "This issue should be handled by the Africans themselves."
Earlier, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters that "Sudan will do its best to carry out justice in Sudan through the Sudanese system with the help of the Africans.
"The decision now is that the trial will take place inside Sudan with the help of African legal advisors... non-Africans can help logistically."
Egypt has already offered to send legal experts to Sudan to help set up special tribunals for Darfur war crimes and al-Tiriki announced that Kadhafi had also sent an expert.
In his opening address Monday, Nigeria's Obasanjo said Africa and not the wider international community should take the lead in efforts to stabilize the situation in Darfur, especially militarily.
The final statement expressed "rejection of any foreign intervention in the Darfur problem, restricting its tackling to its African framework."
It further pledged to confront "any negative factors or wrong signals made by any external party, which hinder finding a sound solution."
The gathering also witnessed a thaw in strained relations between Sudan and Eritrea when Beshir and Afeworki held face-to-face talks for the first time in several years.
The two are bitter enemies who have long accused each other of providing sanctuary and support to opposition groups.

05/17/2005 12:34 GMT