Khartoum denies differences with the African Union

Sudan's foreign minister Mustafa Othman Ismael denied the information over differences with the African Union over the number of the soldiers who will be deployed in the area, stressing that the problem lies in the nature of their mission, renewing his country's rejection that these forces to be converted to peace keeping forces.

However, the Sudanese minister added that his government may reconsider its position if the African Union will convince it of the importance of a force to keep peace, and considered on the other hand that the existence of foreign forces on the land of Sudan might lead to what is taking place now in Iraq. For their part, the rebels in Darfur called for the deployment of observers from the African Union in the rural areas of the district in order to "be witnesses for human rights violations" the rebels blamed the Sudanese government for.

The spokesman for the " justice and equity" movement Idris Ibrahim said on Saturday that his movement hopes that the observers not to be limited to big cities rather to go to the rural areas. Ibrahim accused the Jangawid militias of destroying the old water wells in the rural areas needed for local agricultural communities.

On the other hand, the Sudan News agency said that several rebels were sentenced to death over their participation in the failed attempt to seize al-Fasher airport to the north of Darfur in April 2003, when 23 government's soldiers were killed.