Mbeki delivers AU Darfur report

The UN says more than two million Darfuris have fled their homes over the last six years

An African Union panel has handed over a report aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.

Former South African President Thabo Mbeki led the inquiry and delivered his findings to the AU in Ethiopia.

The bloc set up a commission after a global arrest warrant was issued for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of war crimes in Darfur.

The UN says fighting in the region since 2003 has led to 300,000 deaths.

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Sudanese officials say about 10,000 people died.

The BBC's Uduak Amimo, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa where the AU's headquarters are based, says Mr Mbeki's remit of balancing the need for justice, peace and reconciliation in Darfur was a daunting one.

Mr Mbeki said he would not make the document public.

But analysts say it is likely to recommend a local tribunal - backed by the AU, Sudan and possibly the Arab League - to deal with the abuses committed in Darfur.

Critics say the AU is using the commission only to find a way of avoiding the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for Mr Bashir's arrest - claims Mr Mbeki strongly denied.

The AU has already refused to honour the warrant and Mr Bashir has rejected the charges against him, accusing the ICC of colonialism.

Our reporter says analysts will be watching keenly to see whether the AU will accept and implement the recommendations of the commission it set up.

It comes after the UN's outgoing commander in Darfur said in August that the region was no longer in a state of war, but rather faced low-level conflict and criminality.

ICC charges

Analysts have pointed out that fighting in southern Sudan has claimed more lives this year than violence in Darfur.

The US had wanted Omar al-Bashir charged with genocide

The conflict in Darfur flared in 2003 when black African rebel groups took up arms against the government in Khartoum, complaining of discrimination and neglect.

Pro-government Arab militias then started a campaign of violence, targeting the black African population.

The UN says this led to some 300,000 deaths and forced more than two million people from their homes.

The US said it amounted to a genocide, but the ICC rejected a request to charge Mr Bashir with genocide.

The Sudanese government has always denied charges that it helped organise the militia attacks.

Mr Bashir has been charged by the ICC with two counts of war crimes - intentionally directing attacks against civilians and pillaging.

He is also accused of five crimes against humanity - murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape.