KHARTOUM, 30 July 2004 — The Sudanese government and political parties remain defiant in opposition to foreign interference in the crisis-hit Darfur region, press reports said yesterday. First Vice President Ali Osman Taha was quoted by the Al-Rai Al-Aam daily newspaper as saying that his country “rejects any interference in its internal affairs whatever were the pretexts and justifications that attempt to infringe the country’s sovereignty and resources.”

Taha said the government “is capable of shouldering its responsibilities and national duties of restoring and maintaining security and stability in Darfur,” where the United Nations estimates up to 50,000 people have died in the conflict pitting government forces and their Janjawid allies against two rebel movements.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday debated a US draft resolution threatening sanctions against the Sudanese government over the raging conflict in western Sudan.

Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali said at least seven of the 15 Security Council countries had reservations about mentioning sanctions in the resolution, which needs nine votes to pass.

Among them, Russia and China argue that the threat of sanctions against Sudan would be counterproductive, and that Khartoum should be given time to make good on its July 3 pledge to rein in pro-government militias attacking Darfur’s black population.

Sudan’s pro-government and opposition political parties, meeting late Wednesday at the headquarters of the ruling National Congress party, unanimously backed Taha’s stance. They said the Darfur crisis should be resolved by the African Union against the background of peaceful coexistence among the tribes of the region.

Meanwhile, a students union here has decided to send 750 students to military training camps to prepare to take part “in confronting any foreign forces,” Al-Sahafa daily reported. Also yesterday, the Sudanese Lawyers Union lambasted the international community in a statement, saying “Zionism and a neo-Crusade” were targeting Sudan and “conspiring to undermine the fraternal ties between the Arab and non-Arab tribes in Darfur.”

The AU has, however, delayed deployment of the protection force from end of July, as earlier planned, to early August, due to logistic problems, the AU conflict management center’s deputy El-Ghassim Wane said yesterday.

“The protection force will that was to be deployed in Darfur by end of July, will now not be in place until the first week of August, 2004,” Wane said in Addis Ababa. “The contributing countries, Nigeria and Rwanda, are still sorting out the volume and size of their forces to be dispatched to Darfur by the AU,” Wane added.

In another development, an influential former Sudanese prime minister said yesterday sanctions should be a last resort in efforts to persuade the government to quell violence in the Darfur. Sadeq Al-Mahdi told Reuters in an interview that Khartoum should be given the chance to show it is serious about addressing the crisis in Darfur, where the US Congress says the mounted militias are committing genocide in a campaign against local rebels opposed to the government.

Mahdi, head of opposition Umma Party and one of the leading figures in Sudanese politics since the 1960s, blamed Darfur’s regional government for encouraging extremism and proposed they be sacked as a first step to stop fighting which has killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced over a million others.