SIRTE, Libya (AP) – The U.N. secretary-general urged Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Saturday to play a leadership role in bringing all of Darfur’s rebel groups to a new round of peace talks with the Sudanese government.

Ban Ki-moon met with Gadhafi in his hometown of Sirte two days after the U.N. chief and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced the talks would be held in Libya starting Oct. 27.

“I asked him and urged him to demonstrate all possible leadership and initiative and influence to bring all representatives of the movements” to the peace table, Ban told journalists. “And he said he would do all (he could) to bring them all to the negotiating table.”

Libya, which borders Sudan, has a history of destabilizing its neighbors by supporting rebel groups. But in recent years, it has tried to improve its international image. As a member of both the Arab League and the African Union, Libya could be a bridge between Arabs and ethnic Africans fighting in Darfur.

Ban said he was “confident” Gadhafi could play a leadership role in Darfur’s peace process. The Libyan leader did not speak to reporters, and Ban said it was not the right time to provide details on the specific actions he was contemplating.

Ban, who has made Darfur a top priority since taking the reins of the U.N. on Jan. 1, said he told Gadhafi the upcoming negotiations should produce a final settlement.

The Libyan leader “expressed his support that we need to work to make this a final phase – and a final settlement of this issue,” the secretary-general said.

U.N. envoy Jan Eliasson said a final settlement would mean agreement on wealth-sharing, power-sharing and security issues.

But producing a settlement requires all key players. One of the major rebel leaders, Abdel Wahid Nur, said this week he would not attend the talks because his group wants the killings in Darfur to stop before any negotiations begin.

Nur, who leads a major faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement group, cited the same reason in boycotting talks in August meant to get Darfur’s splintered rebel groups to agree on an agenda for negotiations.

Libya’s African Union minister Ali Abdel Salam Treiki warned that if Nur stays away from talks he will not have “the support of the international community.” He said anyone refusing to take part could face measures, which he would not specify.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been uprooted since ethnic African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in 2003, accusing it of decades of neglect. Sudan’s government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed, blamed for the worst atrocities. The government denies the charge.

Ban was on the last leg of a three-nation tour to promote a political solution in Darfur and speedy deployment of a 26,000-strong African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force in the vast region of western Sudan. He spent four days in Sudan – including a brief visit to a camp for some of the millions forced to flee their homes – before flying to Chad.

Ban said he was encouraged by Gadhafi’s “very positive response” to a yearlong, 3,000-member EU-U.N. mission to protect Sudanese refugees and other civilians affected by Darfur’s spillover in Chad and Central African Republic.

AP-ES-09-08-07 1945EDT