"If there's no progress, we may as well go back to square one," said an African Union diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of talks Monday and Tuesday in the Libyan capital. The gathering will involve 80 EU and African Union nations.

After years of wrangling over Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the two continents, the prickly issue was studiously left off the summit agenda.

But irate African leaders are flying into Tripoli brandishing ultimatums, the source said.

Africa's leading aid donor, the EU remains its top trading partner but risks being elbowed aside as Brazil, India and other emerging giants join China in chasing the spoils of the resource-rich continent.

China has pumped billions in investments in oil, mining and manufacturing while winning hearts and minds with soft loans and aid in infrastructure and energy, geared to lift the world's most destitute continent out of poverty.

"China is doing a lot that's tangible and new," said Andrew Sherif of Netherlands-based thinktank, the European Centre for Development Policy Management. "Africa now has more options," he told AFP.

On the other hand, the Africans complain the EU is setting conditions for the EPAs that will throw up new hurdles for poor countries striving for economic progress.

Britain-based NGO, Oxfam, said the African Union had drafted a paper ahead of the summit "suggesting radical new ways forward, including -- if no progress is made -- the abandonment of the EPA negotiations altogether."

The stand has the backing of all of Africa's six regional economic communities, Oxfam said in statement.

Topping Africa's gripes are EU demands that its nations eliminate most import tariffs. "But customs duties for many poor small nations account for the major part of government revenue," the diplomat told AFP. "This cannot help us develop."

"We need compensation in such cases," he added.

Saying commitments by African countries in EPAs should be matched by financial commitments from the EU, Oxfam said for instance that Cameroon stood to lost 99 million dollars and Cote d'Ivoire 139 million.

There are fears also that a sudden removal of barriers opening the floodgates to European products would harm fledgling African manufacturing before it can stand on its own two feet. "We need time to strengthen in some areas," the source added.

Saying the EU needed "to take a fresh approach" at the Monday and Tuesday summit, Elise Ford, who heads Oxfam's EU office, called on the 27-nation bloc to stand up and "truly listen" to African demands.

"European leaders must get ready to demonstrate flexibility and make concessions in Libya or risk ending up with egg on their faces," she said.

Figures released by the bloc on the eve of the summit showed renewed growth in trade between the EU-27 and Africa for the first nine months this year. Exports stood at 90 billion euro against 79 billion in the same 2009 period, and imports at 96 billion against 79.

Main imports included oil, gas and diamonds, while main exports included petrol, medicine and cereals, said the bloc's statistics office, Eurostat.

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