Sudan reiterated Monday its rejection to the deployment of the United Nations peacekeepers in its western region of Darfur, regarding it as foreign intervention to replace the beleaguered African Union (AU) troops with a UN mission.

"The success of the AU Mission is a success for Africa and testimony to their ability to achieve peace and stability in the region without foreign intervention. It is out of this conviction that Sudan has declared its commitment and support of the AU forces and its clear rejection of any form of foreign intervention in the country," said Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir, who was in Nairobi attending the Summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

Africa's solution would be the only way to end the Darfur conflict, where a three-year rebellion has resulted in the deaths of an estimated 180,000 people and displaced millions others, El-Bashir stressed.

His comment conflicted with the agreement announced in Addis Ababa on March 10 when Sudan and the AU agreed to extend the mandate of the AU peacekeepers in Darfur to September, and then allow them to be merged into a larger United Nations force.

The 7,000-strong AU force, which was deployed in 2004, has been suffering from poor funding and inadequate resources to contain the escalating bloodshed in Sudan's western region.

El-Bashir reiterated his country's determination to achieve lasting and comprehensive peace in the volatile Darfur region through direct negotiations with the rebels to stop bloodshed during the day-long summit, which gathered leaders from Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2006)