ABUJA, Nov 30: Leaders of African and South American nations, holding their first joint summit on Thursday, urged themselves on to greater control over their vast reserves of raw materials and committed to boosting links between their continents.

“Africa and South America are two regions that have immense potential, both in terms of human resources and natural resources. Together we have 1.2 billion inhabitants, together we have abundant farming land and vast mineral resources,” host president Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo declared in his opening speech.

Libya's Moamer Kadhafi, president of another powerful African oil producer, was not to be outdone, calling on the two continents to take control of their own natural resources.

“Eighty per cent of the world's natural resources are found in Africa and in South America. We need to be able to process these raw materials instead of selling them at low prices as we do today... so that our two continents are not simply mines”, he told the summit, robed in white.

“Faced with the ever wider gap between rich and poor countries, it is important for us, developing countries, to be self-reliant. This summit needs to keep in mind how to attain greater unity and greater solidarity between the countries of Africa and South America”, Nigeria's Obasanjo said.

Despite ranking sixth among the world's crude exporters Nigeria imports most of its requirements in petroleum products.

Only 25 heads of state and government out of the 65 billed attended the event, most other countries sending lower-level delegations.

The African participants, including Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, met behind closed doors on the margins of the summit under the auspices of the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council to discuss the future of the AU peacekeeping force deployed in the strife torn Darfur region of western Sudan.

Al-Beshir on Monday disputed the latest reports on the deepening Darfur crisis, insisting there was no humanitarian disaster and that fewer than 9,000 people had been killed there in four years of conflict.

The UN says the death toll for the same period numbers at least 200,000 and some other sources say the toll is much higher.

Leaders from both continents adopted the idea of holding a similar summit once every two years, with the venue alternating between Africa and South America.

Some participants used the summit to attack the United States, with Bolivia's Evo Morales calling on his peers to adopt a resolution calling for “the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in order to stop the massacres and the genocide”.

“Let's work together in order to be able to compete with the North”, Kadhafi appealed.

Both Kadhafi and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also criticized the current make up of the UN Security Council and the way it works.

“The Security Council is supposed to be international and we need a place on it,” the Libyan leader declared.

The declaration adopted by the two continents called only for UN reform to be carried out with “the equitable participation of developing countries,” the views of the two continents on who exactly should get a permanent Security Council seat still diverging.

Brazil's Lula said the UN had to adapt to new global challenges and that the Security Council reflected “a world order that does not exist anymore”.

The two continents called for a swift conclusion to the Doha Round of World Trade Talks.

Brazil's Lula, who met privately with Kadhafi prior to the summit and who has just been re-elected for a second term in office, for his part warned against the consequences of a failure in the Doha Round which would “condemn the two continents to the most extreme poverty”.

The leaders committed to promoting South American investment in the oil and energy sectors in Africa.

Oil came up mainly in bilateral talks given the presence of four Opec members. Nigeria is hosting its first Opec summit in Abuja on Dec14.

In his opening address, Obasanjo said the two continents should take their destinies in their own hands rather than depend on external help.

“The need for us, as developing countries, to rally to our own assistance remains important,” he said.

The meeting started on Thursday morning amidst chaos at Abuja's Hilton hotel.

For the first hour of the meeting security guards sweated profusely as they tried to charge cameramen trying to enter the conference hall. One African delegate, jostled in the fray, called the whole affair “a summit for boxers”.—AFP