Many African leaders are meeting in Gabonese capital Libreville on Monday to help end some conflicts that have plagued many African countries, with the ongoing crisis in the Cote d'Ivoire high on the agenda.

The gathering will provide an opportunity for them to assess efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate an end to the bitter conflict which has divided Cote d'Ivoire since 2002.

Cote d'Ivoire, the world's top cocoa producer, has been split in two since the rebels seized its northern half after a failed attempt to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002.

French and African troops managed to maintain a very fragile peace between the south and rebel-held north before early Novemberlast year when the government air planes bombed rebel-held towns in what President Laurent Gbagbo called an action "to liberate andreunify" the country that was also a violation of an 18-month-old ceasefire.

Whether deliberately, as France believes, or by accident, as Gbagbo insists, a French military base in the central rebel stronghold Bouake was hit, leaving nine French peacekeepers and a US civilian dead, in addition to more than 80 local citizens, according to the rebels. France retaliated by destroying the tiny air force of Cote d'Ivoire, its former colony.

The arms embargo was imposed just days after the unrest, along with the threat of targeted sanctions including travel bans and the freezing of assets that has been held at bay by Herculean mediation efforts for the African Union by Mbeki.

The situation in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and the troubled Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where there have been clashes in the volatile eastern provinces, will also be discussed by the African leaders at the summit.

Darfur has been embroiled in conflict since February 2003 when the rebel groups took up arms against Khartoum, demanding autonomy.The conflict has so far caused thousands of deaths and sent over amillion fleeing to neighboring Chad or internally displaced.

The Sudanese government and southern rebels on Sunday signed a long-awaited peace accord and immediately officials urged the agreement be used as a template for a resolution to the Darfur crisis.

Besides South African President Mbeki, leaders who came to Libreville for the summit were the AU's current chairman, NigerianPresident Olusegun Obasanjo, the presidents of the DRC and Rwanda,and Cote d'Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo.

Gabonese President Omar Bongo who currently holds the rotating presidency of the council, opened the first summit.

The meeting is the first of the African Union's 15-member Peaceand Security Council at the head-of-state level, which reflects the AU's concern about the festering crises that jeopardize security and economic progress on the continent.

The AU's Peace and Security Council, modeled on that of the United Nations, was created in 2002 and has been operating mainly at the level of ambassadors since May 2004.

Source: Xinhua