The Sudanese government rejected a United Nations Security Council resolution on Friday, which gave Sudan 30 days to disarm Arab militias blamed for the deaths of thousands in its western Darfur region or face diplomatic and economic punishment.

Information Minister Al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said in a statement that "Sudan announces its rejection of the Security Council's misguided resolution."

"Sudan expresses its deep sorrow that the issue of Darfur has quickly entered the Security Council and has been hijacked from its regional arena,'' Malik said.

His declaration came hours after the UN Security Council endorsed the resolution.

''It pains Sudan to have to express its rejection of the Security Council resolution, which was a not correct one,'' the Sudanese minister said.

The resolution ''does not conform with the agreements signed between the government and the United Nations,'' he said, adding that the government was capable of ''disarming all the looting and robbing gangs.''

Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mahmoud Moussa has said he opposed threats of sanctions against Sudan because they would achieve nothing and only worsen the situation in Darfur, site of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"Threatening Sudan with sanctions or the use of force is totally useless and will only exacerbate the situation," Mussa said.

And Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current chairman of the African Union (AU), said Friday in Ghanaian capital Accra that the AU would send more troops to Darfur.

Asked about the Khartoum government's likely response to the deployment of further foreign forces to Darfur, Obasanjo replied: "Sudan is not rejecting the deployment of African troops."

According to a statement from French President Jacques Chirac's office, Chirac on Friday ordered French military forces in Chad tobe at the ready to send humanitarian aid to Darfur region of neighboring Sudan.

The French Defense Ministry is reinforcing a French military observation team in Chad, and a total force of about 200 troops is taking part in stabilizing the African country's eastern border with Darfur.
 
(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2004)