ISTANBUL, August 18, 2008 (AFP) - African leaders were gathering in Istanbul Monday for a summit with Turkish officials which Ankara hopes will strengthen economic and political ties with the continent.

The Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit, which begins Tuesday, however was overshadowed by the attendance of Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is facing a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Darfur.

US-based Human Rights Watch said it had sent a letter to Turkey voicing its concern that it had chosen to welcome Beshir, who last month became the first head of state ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

'The Sudanese government remains responsible for massive atrocities in Darfur,' Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, charged, urging Ankara to reject any effort to suspend the investigation.

Turkey, which also drew criticism when it hosted Beshir on a bilateral visit earlier this year, says its contacts with the Sudanese government are aimed at pressing for a peaceful resolution to the crisis.

Apart from Beshir, leaders from some 49 other African countries are also expected at the Istanbul summit, including the presidents of Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Comoros and Mali.

After their talks Tuesday, the participants are expected to issue a declaration stressing their political will for cooperation between Turkey and African countries, as well as a framework document listing concrete areas of cooperation, a senior Turkish diplomat said.

Among those fields are trade, agriculture, management of water resources, infrastructure, energy, transport and telecommunications, education and media, Ertugrul Apakan, the undersecretary of the Turkish foreign ministry, added.

'I am certain that the Istanbul summit will yield a strong perspective for the future of Turkey's ties to Africa,' Apakan was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.

Ankara hopes that the Istanbul summit, the first of its kind, will become a regular meeting held every five years.

Turkey which adopted an action plan in 1998 to open up to African countries, is also keen to see the summit pave the way for a stronger foothold in the African market for its growing economy.

Trade volume between Turkey and African countries stood at 13 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros) in 2007, up from nine billion dollars in 2005.

'We are aiming to increase the trade volume to 30 billion dollars in 2010,' Unal Cevikoz, the Turkish foreign ministry's deputy undersecretary, told Anatolia.

On the diplomatic front, Turkey is planning to increase the number of its embassies in Africa from 12 to 27 by the end of next year.

Ankara also expects to use the summit to drum up African support for its first bid for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council.

Turkey has campaigned hard in the past two years and reached out to countries with which it has had minimal ties in order to secure their blessing for the vote in October to elect two new non-permenent Security Council members for 2009-2010.