KHARTOUM, Aug 2: Sudan's army is prepared for "whatever developments take place" but the government is working to meet the conditions of a UN Security Council resolution threatening sanctions, a Sudanese official said on Monday.

The semi-official Sudanese Media Centre on Monday quoted army spokesman Mohammed Bashir Suleiman as saying the UN resolution, drafted by Washington and passed on Friday, was an "American declaration of war".

Sudan's military thinks the United Nations has not given Sudan enough time to disarm the Janjaweed militias, who are accused of genocide by the US Congress, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry official said.

"It is an operation that must be carried out in degrees, therefore the military high command believes it is better to be in a state of preparedness to confront whatever developments take place," said the minister of state for foreign relations, Najeeb al-Kheir Abdul Wahab.

The resolution called on Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed and prosecute militia leaders. It said the Security Council could consider economic and diplomatic sanctions on the oil-producing country in one month.

The government has used the Arab militias as auxiliaries against two main rebel groups who started a revolt in Sudan's western Darfur region in early 2003.

The rebels, international organisations and some countries say the Janjaweed, who have long competed with the settled population for land, went on a rampage, setting fire to villages, killing, raping and driving more than a million people off their land.

Aid agencies say 30,000 people have been killed so far in Darfur and more than one million have been displaced in the violence since the revolt began. The United Nations has described the situation in Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Arab League, which has already complained about suggestions to send Western troops to Sudan, said Arab foreign ministers would hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Sunday at Sudan's request to discuss the situation in Darfur.

Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported the Arab world's most populous country dispatched five military planes loaded with humanitarian aid to Darfur.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit echoed the Sudanese position on Monday when he told reporters that 30 days "might not be enough". "But the 1,000-mile walk begins with one step," the minister added.

APPEAL TO THE UN: Abdul Wahab also said Sudan would appeal against the UN Security Council resolution on the grounds it will hamper peace talks between the government and the rebels.