By Jonathan Lynn

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Former President Bill Clinton is to head a mission seeking solutions to Africa's problems ranging from AIDS to debt, a group of center-left government leaders said on Saturday.

The 11 leaders also called for a fight against terrorism and its causes, said they would work to carry out the Kyoto climate change protocol rejected by the United States, and urged better global financial inspection to counter money laundering and tax evasion.

"We commit ourselves to work together to promote economic growth, education and health and fight the development challenges in Africa, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria," the leaders said in a communique.

Clinton, who visited six African nations four years ago, the first U.S. president to do so, would identify the steps needed to be taken by the world community and African governments to tackle Africa's challenges, they said.

Clinton was not in Stockholm for the "progressive summit." Africa was one of the main topics at the summit, attended by South African President Thabo Mbeki, and officially devoted to deepening democracy, improving government and fostering development in a globalized economy.

On Friday, the leaders, hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, sent an appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat calling for an end to the spiral of violence in the Middle East.

ROLE FOR GOVERNMENT

The summit was the latest in a series of meetings set up by Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to bring together leaders sharing an ideology seeking to combine capitalist market economy with a strong role for government in social welfare.

The leaders called for a fight against poverty to ensure all people prospered from globalization and stressed that terrorism could not just be fought by military means.

"We must be resolute in fighting terrorism and equally resolute in tackling its causes," the communique said.

"We will fight to reduce global inequalities. The combined wealth of humankind has never been greater and is sufficient to provide a decent life for all, if better distributed," it said.

The leaders said they would push for reforms to open up markets, but said they rejected free-market dogma.

Besides Blair, Mbeki and Persson, the summit included French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres and Polish President Aleksandr Kwasniewski.

From outside Europe came Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.