Libya's Parliament passed a $41-billion budget for 2008 aimed at giving Libyans a direct share in oil wealth after leader Moammar Gadaffi said economic development was too slow, state media reported on Tuesday. Many Libyans say they are still waiting to benefit from soaring oil revenues and rising foreign investment.
Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi urged a sweeping reform of government on Sunday, saying most of the Cabinet system should be dismantled as it had failed to manage the North Africa's country's windfall oil earnings. Gadaffi said that big projects were behind schedule and so ordinary people should themselves devise a new way of sharing out oil revenues.
United Nations and African Union officials are to travel to Darfur this week to try to convince key rebel leaders to join peace talks aimed at resolving the crisis in the Sudanese region, the AU said on Monday. Noureddine Mezni, spokesperson for the AU, said the officials would travel to Darfur "in the next few days".
