He said that the AU forces are working in coordination with all the parties and within the context of cooperation with the international community and the United Nations to solve the issue of Darfur.

    "The AU should continue doing its job in Darfur because it has not said it's unable to do its job. The AU has been there for more than a year. We need to hear from AU that they don't have the capacity, it cannot do its job and then we can agree on how to handle the matter," he said.

    He stressed that the presence of the AU forces was upon the agreement of the Sudan government and in accordance with a specific mandate for monitoring the ceasefire protocol, which was signed by the parties of the conflict in Darfur.

    His comment conflicts with the agreement announced in Addis Ababa last Friday, 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.

    The Khartoum government has long opposed a UN force replacing the AU mission in Darfur.

    The war in Darfur broke out in February 2003, when some groups launched a rebellion against Khartoum and were put down by the Sudan government.

    Nearly 300,000 people have died and 2.4 million made refugees in the civil war that has enveloped the western Sudan province over the past three years. Enditem