South African President Thabo Mbeki left for Nigeria on Wednesday to attend the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council and the Africa-South America summits to be held in Abuja.

The crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan with particular reference to the expiration of the mandate of the AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan at the end of this year, as well as the deployment of a hybrid African Union and the United Nations force, was expected to be on the agenda of the council summit.

On Thursday, Mbeki would attend the inaugural Africa-South America summit, said Foreign Affairs Department Spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa.

Peace, poverty, agriculture, trade, investment, science and technology are some of the issues expected to be discussed in the summit.

Source: Xinhua