Britain able to send 5 000 troops to Sudan

Britain's top military commander has said the country could muster 5 000 troops to send to Sudan if necessary to help tackle what the UN has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"If need be, we will be able to go to Sudan. I suspect we could put a brigade together very quickly indeed," Mike Jackson, chief of general staff, said.

However, a spokesperson for the ministry of defence said there were no plans to send any troops to the strife-torn region where marauding Janjaweed Arab militias have killed thousands of black Africans and displaced up to one million more.

The United States has drafted a UN resolution threatening sanctions unless Sudan's Khartoum-based government disarms the Janjaweed and lifts restrictions on access to Darfur. But the resolution has foundered over the term "sanctions".

Sudan has warned Britain and the United States not to interfere in its internal affairs, saying it would reject any offer of military help. Britain has said it holds the Sudanese government responsible for ending the humanitarian catastrophe, and accused the United Nations of being too slow to respond.

Tony Blair, the British prime minister, said this week the world had to act and that he had not ruled out military intervention to deal with what a US Congressional resolution described as a genocide taking place in Sudan's Darfur region.

International community to discuss possible solutions
A spokesperson for Blair's Downing Street office said today Britain was consulting with the international community on possible solutions. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is due to visit Sudan next month.

A 15-month conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region has killed an estimated 30 000 people. One million were forced out of their villages and two million are in desperate need of aid, UN officials say.

Blair said the EU will discuss the crisis on Monday.

Britain is the largest cash donor to Sudan. Earlier this month it pledged a further $276 million over the next three years once a peace deal is signed between its warring factions.

Aid agency Oxfam is sending 30 tonnes of water and sanitation equipment to Sudan on a flight expected to leave tomorrow. - Reuters