CAIRO, Aug 9 (AFP) - Sudan's government has approved a plan drawn up with a UN envoy for restoring peace in Darfur, state-run media said Monday, after Arab countries meeting here opposed any Western military intervention but also pinned blame on Khartoum.
After an extraordinary meeting Sunday at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, foreign ministers in a final resolution rejected the threat of sanctions against Khartoum.
They opted instead to support the efforts of the African Union (AU) to defuse the humanitarian crisis in Darfur where rebels mounted an armed revolt against the government in February 2003.
The Arab League called on its African members Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia to join an AU mission set up in Darfur to monitor a ceasefire agreed between the government and rebels in April.
They would also join a protection force for the observers.
The AU has said it could deploy up to 2,000 troops in Darfur, but Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail has ruled out the observer mission being turned into a peacekeeping force.
"The security of Darfur is the responsibility of the Sudanese government alone," he said, announcing that Sudan had 40,000 troops deployed in the troubled region.
In Khartoum, state-run media reported Monday that the government had approved an action plan drawn up by Ismail and UN envoy Jan Pronk for restoring peace in Darfur by setting up safe areas.
The plan, to be implemented within 30 days in line with a UN Security Council resolution, calls for Khartoum to secure specific villages and camps, as well as to set up safe access routes and escorted convoys.
The government on Sunday confirmed it was ready to hold peace negotiations with the Darfur rebels in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on August 23, said Al-Anbaa, an official daily in Khartoum.
Arab foreign ministers at the Cairo meeting also called for an extension of the Security Council's deadline to resolve the crisis that runs out at the end of this month.
Khartoum should be given an "adequate timeframe ... to meet its commitments" to the United Nations, they said, without setting a specific deadline although Egypt proposed between 90 and 120 days.
Up to 50,000 people have reportedly died and around 1.2 million have been displaced in Darfur, while around 200,000 refugees have fled across the border to neighbouring Chad.
But Ismail strongly denied the estimated death toll at a press conference here Monday, saying it amounted to only 5,000, including 486 Sudanese police.
The rebellion in Darfur broke out when minority tribes rose up against Khartoum to demand an equal share of national development and protection for the local population.
The revolt prompted a heavy-handed crackdown by government troops and allied Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, which is accused of the bulk of the atrocities in Darfur.
Under a Security Council resolution passed on July 30, the government is committed to disarming the militias.
The Cairo meeting, in which Sudan took part as an Arab League member, rejected any reference to "ethnic cleansing" against black Africans in Darfur but also apportioned some blame to Khartoum.
The foreign ministers demanded the Sudanese government take "urgent measures" to protect displaced civilians against attack by the Janjaweed, who stand accused of crimes against humanity.
Khartoum was likewise urged to ensure the displaced and refugees are returned home "on a strictly voluntary basis, without force or the threat of sanctions", in the final resolution of the ministerial meeting.
Ismail said Sunday the government planned to deploy 10,000 policemen to restore order in Darfur, where some 300 Janjaweed had been arrested in recent weeks for carrying arms.
Those arrested will be put on trial, he said.
But a Sudanese opposition group, the Umma party, charged that those detained were just "delinquents" rather than militiamen, who in turn were being enrolled in the army and police force in a cover-up operation.