Istanbul - Turkish President Abdullah Gul met Tuesday with his visiting Sudanese counterpart, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, and urged his guest to make every effort to end the suffering in the crisis region of Darfur.

The meeting took place within the framework of a Turkey-organised African summit in Istanbul, but to the backdrop of criticism of Istanbul for allowing the visit.

Media reports said al-Bashir expressed his regret about the situation in Darfur, but denied any responsibility for massacres there.

Istanbul  - Sudan's President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir has left for an African summit meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Monday despite a threatened warrant for his arrest in relation to actions by his government in the Darfur region of Sudan, Turkish media reported.

The summit to take place starting Tuesday is also to be attended by various African heads of state and government along with Turkish representatives to discuss widening of cooperation.

Washington - The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court plans to seek an arrest warrant against Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in Darfur, a newspaper reported Friday.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Monday is to ask a three-judge panel of The Hague-based war crimes court to approve the arrest, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed UN officials and diplomats.

If the judges agree to Moreno-Ocampo's request, it would be the first time that the tribunal would charge a sitting head of state although such leaders as Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia were charged by other war crimes courts while in office.