TRIPOLI, Oct 17: Leaders from Sudan and four neighbouring states were meeting in the Libyan capital on Sunday to push for an end to the conflict in Darfur that has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered a desperate humanitarian crisis.

The summit, hosted by Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi, is aimed at laying down the basis for direct talks between Darfur rebels and the government in Khartoum.

The one-day meeting brings together Qadhafi as well as Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir - whose government is threatened with UN sanctions over the crisis - and his counterparts Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Idriss Deby of Chad and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, current holder of the African Union (AU) presidency.

Foreign ministers were holding preliminary meetings before the evening mini-summit on Darfur but the participation of rebel movements was still unsure.

The summit comes just days after the United Nations said the 20-month-old civil war in the western Sudanese region, described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis, had killed 70,000 people.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail vigorously disputed the UN's toll on Sunday, describing it as "erroneous information" but failing to provide the government's own figures.

Leaders from the five nations were due to meet briefly in the afternoon and break the fast with an "iftar" offered by Qadhafi before holding full talks.

According to diplomatic sources in Tripoli quoted by the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, Qadhafi has singled out three issues to be addressed during the talks.

The Libyan leader reportedly wants the talks to find ways of guaranteeing food supplies to Darfur's displaced, restore security, and find a global solution to the crisis which will spare Sudan from threatened international sanctions.

Quoted by the same newspaper, Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgham voiced his optimism over the talks and said the summit had "the support of the international community and strong backing from the European Union and the United States."

The summit is expected to provide the framework for a resumption of talks between Khartoum and the main Darfur rebel movements, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told reporters when he arrived in Tripoli on Saturday that one of the summit's objectives would be to find a negotiated solution with the rebels within an AU framework and avoid "internationalization" of the conflict.

The Darfur rebels started a rebellion in February 2003 against marginalization by the government and charge that Khartoum is using Arab tribesmen known as Janjaweed as proxy militias to crush their uprising.

Obasanjo, who hosted a first round of talks in Abuja in August and September, announced that a fresh round with the rebels would be switched to Tripoli, with Nigerian officials saying they would resume on October 21.

The Sudanese government welcomed the change of venue for the talks, although neither of the rebel groups have yet confirmed they would attend.

The first round of AU-sponsored talks broke up after more than three weeks of inconclusive bickering between Khartoum's delegates and the two rebel movements.

The United Nations and Western leaders have accused Khartoum of failing to protect civilians in Darfur and threatened sanctions against Sudan's vital oil industry if Khartoum fails to rein in the Janjaweed, blamed for many atrocities.-AFP