CAIRO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is ready to send extra troops to Sudan's troubled region of Darfur in a new effort to push Sudan towards a compromise over UN peacekeepers for the region, local newspaper Egyptian Gazette reported on Saturday.

    Egypt offered to dispatch a force of 930 troops to Darfur, including 500 infantry troops, 300 transportation and signals operators, 100 military observers and 30 staff officers, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying.

    The Egyptian chief diplomat has reiterated that the way to solve the Darfur crisis was to initiate talks between the Sudanese government and rebel groups that did not sign the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) on May 5, 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria.

    The latest move of Egypt, which already has a small contingent operating in Darfur along with the African Union peacekeepers, comes as Sudan is under mounting international pressure for approving the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Darfur. The Sudanese government has asked the international community to exert more pressures on the rebel movements which had not signed the DPA to go back to the negotiation table.

    Last week, Abul Gheit called on the UN Security Council not to haste in imposing new sanctions against Sudan over the Darfur crisis as Britain and the United States had announced they would propose new sanctions on Sudan.

    The Sudanese government announced on April 16 its acceptance of the heavy support package, which is the second step of the three-phased UN peacekeeping plan aimed at deploying a hybrid UN-AU force in Darfur.

    During the ongoing first phase, the light support package, 105 officers, 33 police advisers and 48 civilian officials are being delivered to Darfur by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). Many civilians have been displaced and a number of civilians have been killed since tribal clashes and anti-government rebellion erupted in February 2003.