Sudan 'will fight foreign troops'
 |  The Janjaweed militia are blamed for sprees of looting, murder and rape. |
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|  VIDEO |
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 The U.S. Congress declares that bloodletting in Darfur is genocide.
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KHARTOUM, Sudan -- Sudan will retaliate against international troops if they are sent to intervene in the troubled Darfur region, Khartoum's foreign minister has said.
"We are not looking for confrontation and we hope that we will not be pushed," Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters during a visit to Turkey on Tuesday.
But "if we are being attacked, definitely we are not going to sit silent, we will retaliate," he said.
Also Tuesday, Sudan's Cabinet condemned the idea of international troops intervening in Darfur, saying the country could solve its own problems.
"The government expressed its absolute denunciation of the deployment of (foreign) troops in Darfur and affirmed that Sudan is capable of solving its conflicts by itself," The Associated Press quoted a Cabinet statement as saying.
The statement followed an extraordinary meeting chaired by Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha. President Omar el-Bashir is abroad.
The developments come a day after European Union foreign ministers, in a draft statement, said they would take "appropriate further steps" if Sudan did not take action to end the fighting and resume peace talks with rebels.
An attempt by the African Union to host talks between rebels and the Sudanese government was suspended earlier this month when rebels walked out after Khartoum rejected some of their preconditions.
While not using the word sanctions, EU officials said the 25-member bloc would join the United States and push for such a move by the U.N. Security Council if Sudan did not cooperate with efforts to end violence that has killed 30,000 in Darfur and caused 1 million to flee.
Some 2.2 million are in urgent need of food or medical attention, aid groups estimate.
"What is most important is to continue pressure on the Sudanese government," Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told Reuters.
Meanwhile a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces sent on any mission to western Sudan.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has not ruled out military intervention in Darfur, where the U.S. Congress has labeled as genocide a campaign by Arab militias against black Africans.
The United States has circulated a draft U.N. resolution threatening sanctions against Khartoum if it does not prosecute the leaders of the militia. (Full story)
The violence in Darfur began 15 months ago when two rebel groups from Darfur's African tribes took up arms in a struggle over land and resources. Arab militias known as Janjaweed then began a brutal campaign to drive out the black Africans.
The EU, the United States and humanitarian groups have accused the Sudanese government of backing the militias -- a claim the national leadership in Khartoum denies.
The EU cited "grave concern" at events in Darfur, saying they were "alarmed by reports of massive human rights violations" perpetrated by the Janjaweed militia rebels, "including systematic rape of women."
"The risk is very high for a potential catastrophe," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told the AP.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
