Sudan’s president has rejected a proposal to send thousands of UN peacekeepers to Darfur to boost 7,000 African peacekeepers there, crushing hopes for a quick solution to a crisis that is spreading across central Africa.

The Sudanese government significantly raised the stakes in Khartoum’s stand-off with the international community, calling yesterday for the AU to withdraw its troops from all of Darfur.

The Sudanese government has launched a major offensive against rebels in war-torn Darfur in recent days, human rights activists and African Union officials said tonight.

THE African Union lacks the funds to maintain its peacekeeping force or to boost its efficiency amid a deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in Sudan’s Darfur, a top AU official warned yesterday.

The African Union will end talks among warring parties in Sudan’s Darfur region by April 30 if the Khartoum government and rebel factions fail to agree to a peace deal, a senior mediator says.