Sudan warned Britain and the United States not to interfere in its internal affairs today after British prime minister Mr Tony Blair said he had not ruled out military aid to help combat the crisis in the Darfur region.
"I don't understand why Britain and the United States are systematically increasing pressure against us and not operating through the United Nations," Sudanese Foreign Minister Mr Mustafa Osman Ismail said on a visit to Paris.
"(This) pressure closely resembles the increased pressure that was put on Iraq (before the war)," he said.
Washington accuses Khartoum of backing Janjaweed Arab militia in a campaign some US officials have described as ethnic cleansing against black African villagers in Darfur.
The United States has drafted a UN resolution that would impose an immediate travel and arms ban on militia members.
"We don't need any (U.N.) resolutions. Any resolutions from the Security Council will complicate things," Mr Ismail said.
Facing what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, Blair said the world could not simply stand by and watch.
"We have a moral responsibility to deal with this and to deal with it by any means that we can," Mr Blair said, adding that he had not ruled out the possibility of military assistance.
After long conflict between Arab nomads and black African farmers, rebel groups launched a revolt in February 2003 in the east of the oil-producing country. Janjaweed militias went on the rampage, driving black Africans into barren camps.
Meanwhile UN secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan has accused Sudan of making little progress in curbing the violence in the Darfur region.
Mr Annan spoke yesterday as his special representative for Darfur, Dutchman Jan Pronk, briefed the 15-member Security Council on reports that Arab militia, called Janjaweed, were continuing to terrorise African villagers in Sudan's west.
The 15-month conflict has killed at least 30,000 people, forced villagers into concentration-camp type compounds and left two million people without enough food and medicine.
"There have been encouraging steps on the humanitarian front," Mr Annan said at a news conference. "But there has been little progress on human rights and I regret to say there are continuing reports of attacks by the Janjaweed militia."
Sudan, in an agreement with Mr Annan two weeks ago, pledged to protect displaced civilians, disarm the Janjaweed and other armed groups, suspend visa and travel restrictions on relief workers, allow African Union human rights monitors and punish those responsible for atrocities.
Mr Pronk, who is part of a monitoring system for Darfur, was blunt, saying there was "no progress whatsoever as far as the security of the people themselves is concerned".
But Annan said he could not predict how long Sudan would have before the UN Security Council took concrete action or here would deem that Sudan had failed to co-operate.
"It's going to be a judgement call rather than an artificial deadline but the urgency is there and the Sudanese government doesn't have forever," he said.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell intends to visit Mr Annan in New York today to discuss Darfur. "It's time to get together now to look very carefully at the situation," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The United States is expected to push for a stronger resolution than its original draft in hopes Powell can focus attention on the government's failings, a senior State Department official said.