CAIRO, 26 July 2004 — Sudan yesterday questioned the need for foreign troops in strife-torn Darfur, while a rebel movement called for their rapid deployment to combat the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudanese region.

“We are asking the United States, the United Nations secretary general, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees,” rebel spokesman Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur said.

Contacted by telephone, the spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) added that the intervention would “avert a humanitarian disaster of great proportions”.

But Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail, speaking to BBC television yesterday, dismissed the need for foreign intervention, saying his government was doing all it could to disarm Arab militias.

“Why should we have to rush and to talk about military intervention as long as the situation is getting better?” Ismail asked. “My government is doing what can be done in order to disarm the militia.”

In Khartoum, the ruling National Congress party took opposition to foreign intervention a step further, with a threat to use force to counter it, a press report said yesterday.

“Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force,” NC Secretary-General Ibrahim Ahmed Omar said, quoted by the official Al-Anbaa daily.

Meanwhile, observers said yesterday the rebels were obstructing efforts to stop fighting in Darfur in the expectation that the plight of thousands of refugees will force the international community to intervene.

“It is obvious that the rebels feel that if they agitate enough they can force the hand of the international community and bring about an intervention on the ground,” said a Western observer in Khartoum.

The head of military intelligence in Northern Darfur state said the rebels believe they will draw the international community’s attention by prolonging the conflict.

“They (rebels) want to provoke us into breaking the cease-fire and they attack aid convoys because they don’t want the internally displaced people to go home,” said Mohamedahmed Abdallah Karrar.

He said rebel attacks complicate the government’s ability to honor promises it has made to the international community.

Government spokesman Al-Zahawi Ibrahim Malik said in Khartoum on Saturday that the government was “serious” in its intention to honor an agreement reached with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on humanitarian and security issues in Darfur.

He invited foreign diplomats and humanitarian officials in Khartoum to visit Darfur to “see the situation on the ground,” adding: “We have nothing to hide.”

Washington, the United Nations and the EU have demanded that Khartoum immediately disarm the Janjaweed and make them respect a cease-fire signed April 8 after talks in the Chadian capital Ndjamena.

On Thursday the United States proposed a draft UN Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions against Sudan if it does not prosecute the Janjaweed for atrocities committed against civilians.

Britain has said it could send 5,000 troops to the region if required, while Australia has said it was considering a UN request for military personnel to join a mission there.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, told Ismail in a meeting in The Hague on Saturday that the situation in Darfur had not sufficiently improved. Bot however said a UN resolution against Sudan was not yet needed.