KHARTOUM, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese Minister of Information and Communication Al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik expressed his belief here Saturday that the upcoming Arab summit will take a strong position supporting Sudan on the Darfur issue.

    The Arab summit is to be held in Khartoum on March 28-29 with the attendance of all the 22 member states of the Arab League (AL).The Darfur issue is expected to be one of the main issues coped with by the Arab leaders during the summit.

    "The summit will adopt a very strong resolution supporting Sudan on the Darfur issue, especially its position of refusing foreign intervention as well as its efforts to achieve a fast and peaceful settlement for the crisis," Malik told Xinhua.He said that the AL was playing an important role in the Darfur peace process, adding that the pan-Arab bloc had sent representatives to observe the peace negotiations currently being held between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel movements in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

    "The AL will also play a basic role in the post-war reconstruction process in Darfur after a peace agreement is signed between the government and the rebel movements," Malik underlined.Pointing to the mediation efforts of the Sudanese government between Syrian and Lebanon, Malik said that the experiments Sudan had gathered through the peace-making process in recent years would be very useful for other Arab countries to settle their disputes.

    The Sudanese government signed a comprehensive peace agreement with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the former rebel group in south Sudan, in January 2005, ending their 21-year-longcivil war.

    In face of accumulating pressures, the Sudanese government has announced its determination to achieve a peace deal with the Darfur rebel movements during the current seventh round of peacetalks in Abuja, which could be followed by a deployment of international peacekeeping forces in Darfur as demanded by the African Union. Enditem