Gaddafi calls latest Darfur agreement 'laughable'

TRIPOLI, May 8 (Reuters) Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said a deal signed last week in the Saudi capital to end bloodshed in Sudan's Darfur region was ''laughable'' as it was no different to an agreement he brokered in April.

Sudan and Chad, at loggerheads over military clashes and rebel activity in their countries' volatile border, signed the reconciliation pact in Riyadh on May 3 under the auspices of Saudi King Abdullah.

In the accord, Chad President Idriss Deby and Sudan's Omar Hassan al-Bashir echoed the previous agreement signed in Tripoli by promising their countries would not be used to harbour, train or fund armed movements opposed to the government of the other.

It was the latest of several peace deals between the two leaders over the last 18 months, none of which has prevented fresh violence spilling out of Darfur and into Chad.

''Although we are happy for anyone to participate in solving the problem between the two countries, either Saudis or anyone else, diplomatically it was explained that (the Riyadh deal) has no meaning,'' Gaddafi said today.

''They told us they tried to explain to the Saudis that they had already signed a similar agreement but they signed the new one anyway.'' He said it was a case of ''laughable'' diplomacy.

Gaddafi made the comments after meeting Deby and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Tripoli.

Officials had said the meeting would focus on Darfur, Arab issues and preparations for an African Union summit in Ghana scheduled for mid-year, but Gaddafi said Mubarak and Deby had only come to Libya to explain the Riyadh deal.

The United Nations says around 200,000 people have died in Darfur and more than 2 million have been made homeless.

Conflict broke out there in 2003 when rebel groups took up arms against the Khartoum government, accusing it of neglect.

Khartoum says only 9,000 people have lost their lives.

One main rebel group signed a peace agreement with the government in 2006 and small factions later committed themselves to the deal, but it has failed to stop the violence.

REUTERS SS RK2235