Beijing Olympics: Kadhafi blasts Israel over Africa's woes at AU summit

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi blasted Israel at a special African Union summit on Monday on the eve of celebrations to mark his 40-year rule, accusing the Jewish state of causing all the woes facing Africa.

Israel is "behind all of Africa's conflicts," Kadhafi told some 30 African leaders gathered under a huge tent at Tripoli airport for a summit focused on solving the continent's trouble spots, including Sudan's Darfur and Somalia.

However the one-day meeting ended without proposing concrete steps to do so, the leaders merely adopting a "Tripoli Declaration" and a plan of action "to find urgent solutions to crises and conflicts" in Africa.

That plan urged member states who have pledged to contribute troops to reinforce the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia AMISOM to honour their promises "rapidly."

Earlier African Union chief Jean Ping told reporters that Sierre Leone, Malawi and Nigeria had agreed to reinforce AMISOM, but gave no further details.

Hardline Islamist rebels launched a sweeping onslaught in Mogadishu in May against the government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, reducing his reach to just a handful of areas with the backing of AU peacekeepers.

Sudan was also high on the agenda of the third African Union summit so far this year, held to mark the 10th anniversary of the 53-member pan-African organisation.

"We'll try to focus on all conflict situations... We believe that we can move forward in terms of peace and discussions," the AU's Peace and Security Council chief Ramtane Lamamra said ahead of the talks, singling out Somalia.

The summit's closing session was marked by the arrival of outspoken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in Libya to attend Tuesday's 40th anniversary celebrations.

"A united Africa is a free Africa," Chavez said in a speech in which he hailed "40 years of green revolution in Libya."

Among those attending the summit were Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is facing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur, and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

On Darfur, the final declaration said the African leaders underlined the need to guarantee "a rapid advance in efforts to bring about peace, security, justice and conciliation" in the war-ravaged region of western Sudan, according to the text of the document acquired by AFP.

Some 300,000 people have died in the six-year conflict with 2.7 million left homeless, according to the United Nations. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

The final declaration also called for an international conference on the problem of piracy off the Somali coast.

Earlier Kadhafi demanded the closure of all Israeli embassies across Africa, describing Israel as a "gang" and saying it uses "the protection of minorities as an excuse to launch conflicts."

He claimed that a Darful rebel group had opened an office in Tel Aviv while its leader lives under French protection, a reference to Sudan Liberation Army chief Abdelwahid Mohammed Nur who lives in exile in Paris.

"As African brothers we must find solutions to stop the superpowers who are pillaging our continent," he said.

Since then Kadhafi has enjoyed improved ties with the West and growing influence in Africa after years of pariah status.

Widmann