Five African leaders meet in Libya today aiming to spur talks to end a conflict that has displaced about 1.5 million people in Sudan's western Darfur region and created a humanitarian crisis.
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gadafy, who has championed the cause of African unity, invited the leaders of Sudan, Nigeria, Egypt and Chad to the summit.
"The idea is to work on both the (Sudanese) government, as well as the opposition (rebels) ... to soften their positions, to work on them, asking them to moderate whatever stance they take," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said in Tripoli.
He said the summit aimed to prepare the ground for resuming talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja and to encourage both sides to stick to commitments, including a shaky April ceasefire deal.
Nigeria is the current African Union (AU) president, while Chad and Egypt, like Libya, share a border with Sudan.
AU-sponsored talks in Nigeria between the warring parties are expected to resume on October 21st after collapsing last month with Darfur rebels saying Khartoum had refused key security demands such as disarming marauding Arab militias.
Sudan has accused the United States of encouraging rebels to take a hard line in the negotiations, seen by many as a test of the AU's ability to respond to crises in its own backyard.
Darfur rebels, who took up arms in 2003, have also been invited to Tripoli to meet Col Gadafy.
The UN Security Council has threatened Sudan with possible sanctions if it does not stop the violence, which the United States has described as genocide. The UN says the conflict has killed some 50,000 people.