African leaders agreed on Sunday to extend their military mission in Darfur, after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan failed to persuade Sudan to allow in international peacekeepers to try to end years of bloodshed. But Annan said he expected a U.N. peacekeeping force, widely seen as the only way to end a crisis in which tens of thousands have died, to be deployed eventually.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (C) is applauded July 01 at the opening session of an African Union summit of more than 50 African heads of state. African Union leaders agreed in Gambia to extend a peacekeeping force in Darfur until the end of the year to allow the UN to finalise its preparations to deploy in the vast troubled region.[AFP\File]

Annan met Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir on the fringes of an African Union summit in Gambia dominated by the bloodshed in Sudan's huge western region.

He failed to reverse Bashir's repeated rejection of a U.N. force but did persuade the summit to extend the mandate of the overstretched, 7,000-strong AU force in Darfur.

AU chairman Denis Sassou Nguesso told reporters after the two-day summit ended: "On the request of the secretary general, the African Union will continue to fulfil its mission until the end of the year."

The AU had wanted to pull its force out on September 30 and have it replaced by U.N. troops. Even if Bashir agreed, it would take many months to deploy U.N. peacekeepers.

Annan told a news conference the United Nations would work with the AU to strengthen its force, which has failed to stem the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, where three years of murder and rape have pushed 2.5 million people out of their homes and into squalid camps.

Referring to his meeting with Bashir, Annan said: "I of course continued to press for the eventual deployment for a U.N. force in Darfur and we agreed that dialogue had to continue."

He added: "President Bashir has indicated that in the world of politics things change. We hear 'never' and ... yet in time it does come round and so I am still expecting that in time there will be a U.N. peacekeeping force deployed in Darfur."

SUDAN AND SOMALIA DOMINATE

U.N. forces cannot be deployed in Darfur without Bashir's consent but diplomats say little leverage is available to persuade him.

Khartoum says the deployment would be a Western invasion, attracting Islamic militants and creating an Iraq-like quagmire.

Annan said a conference in Brussels on July 18 would seek more support for the AU force and Bashir would present a plan for the next six months by the end of July.

Annan said a May 5 peace deal signed by Khartoum and one rebel group must be implemented immediately.

The agreement has been undermined by its rejection by two other rebel groups and AU forces have been attacked in refugee camps. Annan said the hold-out groups must be brought on board.

The other big issue overshadowing the summit was Somalia where Islamist forces conquered Mogadishu early last month and now control a large swathe of the country after defeating U.S.-backed warlords.

Their successes, and the recent takeover of the leadership by a hardline cleric, have caused concern in Washington and regional power Ethiopia

The summit backed the sending of regional peacekeepers to Somalia and called for dialogue between the weak interim government and the Islamist leadership.

"We have decided that the African Union, together with regional groups like IGAD, should take the situation in Somalia in hand," said Denis Sassou-Nguesso, President of the Congo Republic.

"The African Union will give all its support to the interim government, and we invite the international community to join us in supporting them, while favouring internal dialogue in Somalia," he told a closing news conference.

Somalia's interim government supports the deployment of peacekeepers to the Horn of Africa country, but the Islamists strongly oppose them.