The United States has called on the government of Sudan to accept UN peacekeepers in the volatile Darfur region despite opposition from the Khartoum administration.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said this week it was out of the question for UN troops to be deployed to Darfur because they would come with colonial and imperial ambitions.
US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said it was in Sudan's own interests to accept a UN force to back up about 7,000 underequipped African Union troops struggling to keep the peace in Darfur, an area the size of France.
"As long as violence continues in Darfur, the Sudanese government is going to be held responsible, regardless of the circumstances," Ereli told reporters.
"So the Sudanese government has a strong interest in a more effective security force in Darfur not only to be on the right side of the issue and to be seen as doing the right thing, but also to provide for better security for its own citizens."
Ereli said the United States was working closely with the European Union and others to press Sudan to "recognise the reality" it needed a UN force in Darfur, where tens of thousands have been killed and 2 million have fled their homes in three years of conflict.
A joint UN-African Union technical team is in Sudan to assess the needs of a UN mission and how to support the African troops during a transition.