DOING SADDAM JUST KEEPS PAYING DIVIDENDS:

Ban lauds Libyan role in Darfur peace talks (DITH M LEDERER, 9/09/07, Scotland on Sunday)

UN SECRETARY-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday said his goal is to reach a final political settlement to end the four-year conflict in Darfur, as he arrived in the hometown of Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi to discuss upcoming peace negotiations. [...]

The new negotiations follow a UN and African Union conference in Arusha, Tanzania, in early August that brought Darfur rebels together to agree on a common platform for talks, but key rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur boycotted the meeting and has rejected the proposed negotiations.

Ban said he hoped to use Gaddafi's influence with the rebel movements to ensure that all would attend talks - a proposal seconded by Libya's AU minister, Ali Abdel Salam Treiki.

"We will use our efforts, our contacts with these people, the good relations we have... for the success of this meeting," he said.