Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has warned that the widespread acquisition of African farmlands by foreign companies could be the dawn of a new era of "feudal lords."

"In Africa, foreign investors buy farmland, transforming themselves into new feudal lords, against whom we must fight," Gadhafi said Monday at the opening of a UN summit on food security in Rome.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says it called the three-day summit in a bid to raise awareness on the urgency battling global hunger, which is now affecting some 1 billion people across the world. It is also urging efforts to promote self-sufficiency in poorer nations.

Gadhafi maintained that Africa's most serious problem was the "monopolization of seeds by companies that I would describe as diabolical," calling on the FAO to "dismantle this monopoly in all countries."

Around 60 heads of state and government, mostly from Africa, Asia and Latin America, attended the three-day summit, which further brought to the spotlight the conspicuous absence of the leaders of wealthy nations.

From the group of eight industrialized nations, only Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi took time away from the reopening of his tax fraud trial, which was delayed, to attend the summit.

However, the eccentric Libyan leader made headlines on Monday for reportedly inviting 500 attractive Italian "hostesses" to a villa in Rome Sunday night . He urged the women to convert to Islam, presenting them with a copy of the holy Qur'an, Italian media reported on Monday.

ZHD/MMN