The Sudanese president asked Arab leaders gathered at a summit yesterday to provide the necessary money to keep African Union peacekeepers operating in the troubled Western Darfur region.

CHEERING crowds and a brass band greeted UN chief Kofi Annan yesterday on his first visit to south Sudan, but he was also met with a stark message on the desperate need for aid in the war-battered region.

The UN Security Council adopted a US backed resolution that implicitly threatens sanctions against the Sudanese government if it does not rein in Arab militias blamed for atrocities in the western Darfur region.

America said it would consider changes to overcome opposition to a draft UN resolution on Sudan, but insisted that the threat of sanctions must be clear if the Sudanese government failed to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.