ROUNDUP: Bashir, Qadhafi focus on humanitarian solution for Darfur

ROUNDUP: Bashir, Qadhafi focus on humanitarian solution for Darfur Tripoli - Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Libyan Leader Muammar al-Qadhafi agreed Thursday to focus on humanitarian and social means to reach peace in the western Sudanese Darfur region.

After their meeting, the leaders issued a joint statement saying that they agreed on promoting the Doha dialogue between the Sudanese government and rebel factions in Darfur to solve the conflict with social means.

Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, arrived Thursday in Libya in an unscheduled stop, after his visit Wednesday to Egypt.

The Sudanese president landed Monday in Eritrea to start his tour of countries that have not signed the Rome Statute on the ICC and so are not obligated to execute the arrest warrant.

Despite the arrest warrant, al-Bashir announced he will attend the annual Arab Summit to be held in the Qatari capital at the end of March.

Al-Qadhafi urged the ICC to stop proceedings against al-Bashir, saying that "Africa can solve its own problems without outside meddling" and has made a number of attempts to broker peace between Darfur rebels and the Khartoum government.

The Sudanese government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) started Doha-mediated talks in February, the first since 2007, reaching a framework agreement to end the six-year conflict in Darfur.

On March 4, the ICC accused al-Bashir of complicity in crimes against humanity committed in the government's campaign against rebels in Darfur.

The United Nations says that 300,000 people have been killed, and that 2.7 million people have fled their homes, since fighting began in Darfur in 2003. (dpa)

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