Khartoum asked African Union peacekeepers to leave Darfur by the end of the month in a new act of defiance, as its forces engaged in renewed fighting that threatened to plunge the battered region into fresh chaos.
"The African Union has already stated that it could not continue in Darfur so, if it is unable to pursue its assignment beyond September 30, then they have to leave before this date," foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim said Monday.
"At the same time, they have no right to transfer this assignment to the United Nations or any other party. This right rests with the government of Sudan," said Ibrahim.
The Sudanese government had already rejected a UN Security Council resolution passed on Thursday which calls for the deployment of more than 20,000 UN peacekeepers to take over from the embattled 7,000-strong AU contingent.
Khartoum submitted plans to the UN for the deployment of its own troops to replace AU monitors in Darfur, but the idea was rejected by the United States and angered rebel movements.
Sudanese government troops "aren't considered neutral," Washington's top Africa envoy -- Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs -- said last month.
Government troops have already started massing in some parts of Darfur and AU officials reported renewed fighting that threatened to plunge the region back into chaos, four months after a fragile peace agreement was signed.
"Sudan will proceed with the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement according to its own plan to restore peace and stability in the region," Ibrahim said.
"This plan has already been lodged with the UN Secretary General (Kofi Annan) but it has not been well considered," he added.
The Sudanese plan provides for the deployment of some 10,000 government troops in Darfur. Reinforcements have already been sent to North Darfur, where renewed fighting broke out over the past week.
"Reports reaching here from the African forces' command in Darfur spoke of battles that have been going on since August 28 in Kukul, Sayah, Abusakeri and Gabr al-Kafud areas in North Darfur," the AU mission's spokesman Nureddin Mezni said.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has consistently rejected a UN deployment in Darfur, accusing Western governments of seeking to invade his country and plunder its resources.
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha was in defiant mood last week, warning that the government would resist any attempt by the international community to dispatch foreign troops without Khartoum's consent.
"We have options and plans for confronting the international intervention," he said, praising the war waged by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah against Israel.
Analysts argue Khartoum fears that a UN presence in Darfur could pave the way for arrests of Sudanese government officials accused of war crimes.
The combined effect of war and famine has left up to 300,000 people dead in Darfur and displaced 2.5 million in three and half years of civil war pitting the Sudanese government and allied militias against ethnic minority rebels.
The United States has described Khartoum's repression of the Darfur uprising that broke out in February 2003 as a genocide.
A peace agreement was signed in Abuja on May 5 by the government and the main Darfur rebel faction.
But the other two rebel groups that took part in the talks in the Nigerian capital have rejected the agreement and violence has continued unabated in Darfur, hampering relief efforts.
Twelve aid workers have been killed in violent incidents in Darfur this year, most of them after the AU-brokered peace deal was signed.
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