News Article by AP posted on May 03, 2003 at 14:37:55: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudanese, Libyan leaders hold talks in Tripoli
TRIPOLI, Libya, May 03, 2003 (AP) -- Sudan's president met with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Saturday for talks on bilateral relations, Libya's state-run news agency reported.
Omar el-Bashir was accompanied on the one-day state visit to Libya by Sudan's foreign and defense ministers, the official Sudan news agency reported.
No further details were available and el-Bashir later departed Libya for Sudan. Neither leader spoke to reporters.
Sudan's official newspaper, al-Anba, reported earlier that el-Bashir was expected to meet in Tripoli with his Eritrean counterpart, Isaias Afewerki, for talks aimed at easing Sudanese-Eritrean tensions over charges each nation shelters rebels fighting the other's government.
There was no word on any el-Bashir-Afewerki meeting taking place. Afewerki was not believed to be in Libya.
Khartoum accuses the Eritrean regime of assisting the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army in southern Sudan as well as northern Sudanese opposition groups, which Eritrea denies.
Sudan hosts several Eritrean opposition groups who accuse Afewerki of starving his people to support a military buildup and claim responsibility for guerrilla actions inside Eritrea.
Meanwhile, military exercises between Libyan and Italian marines that began in Tripoli's port Friday continued Saturday, Libyan newspapers reported.