KHARTOUM, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Head of a high-ranking Africa Union (AU) panel and former president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday the conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur should be resolved politically not militarily.

    "Through our consultations we have reached a conviction that the conflict in Darfur is a political dispute and requires a political solution rather than military action, so the panel believes that it is needed to focus on political negotiations," Mbeki told a press conference held before the AU panel departing the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

    "It is important to reach a comprehensive ceasefire, and then specify a timetable for the start of the talks and an agreement on the agenda and the basic principles of dialogue between the parties to the crisis in Darfur," Mbeki said.

    "The peace, justice and reconciliation are integrated parts of the peace process, and all of them are complementing each other," Mbeki said, adding that "we are convinced that the justice must be achieved in Darfur, and it's a fundamental pillar of the endeavor for a peaceful solution to the crisis."

    "But there are several questions on how to achieve the justice and on the institutions that we need to deal with the justice, we'll talk in our report to the African Union on these questions," Mbeki noted.

    Mbeki praised the Sudanese government for its cooperation with the panel, saying that "the Sudanese government has affirmed its commitment to accelerating the peace process and finding a solution to the crisis, and it will be bound by the decision to betaken by the African Union."

    During its week-long tour in Sudan, the AU panel conducted a series of meetings with representatives of the Sudanese government and the armed rebel movements, and visited the Darfur region where it spoke with internally displaced persons and officials of the local administrations and civil organizations.

    The panel is preparing a report on the outcomes of the tour and its proposals to address the Darfur crisis and will submit it to an AU special summit to be held in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday.