Khartoum - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir has voiced strong opposition to the deployment of Western troops in war-torn Darfur, vowing his country would not be "recolonised".
"I swear that there will not be any international military intervention in Darfur as long as I am in power," Beshir said late on Monday.
"Sudan, which was the first country south of the Sahara to gain independence, cannot now be the first country to be recolonised," he said.
The UN wants to replace an embattled and under-equipped contingent of African troops in the western region of Darfur with its own peacekeepers in an attempt to shore up a fragile peace deal. - Sapa-AFP