The United Nations' assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Hedi Annabi, said on Thursday that the security situation in the Darfur region of Sudan has worsened since late June.

Annabi briefed the Security Council on Secretary-General Kofi Annan's latest report on Darfur, and also provided an update on the situation on the ground there.

Since his last briefing on Darfur in late June, he said, violence has broke out between the parties involved in the conflict and there has been an "unprecedented level of attacks against humanitarian workers."

As a result, some nongovernmental organizations have indicated they may be forced to withdraw completely from North Darfur, he said.

Annabi said the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed in May between Sudan's government and Darfur's main rebel group, is not going well, with both signatories and non-signatories violating it.

Annabi also pointed out that Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has reiterated his rejection of a UN operation in Darfur and warned that the Sudanese army would fight any UN forces sent to Darfur.

Annan sent a letter on Aug. 10 to the council on the deteriorating security situation and the grave challenges facing relief efforts in Darfur.

The secretary-general noted that there had been an upsurge in violence in Darfur in recent weeks.

The prospects for international assistance operations were bleak, Annan wrote, noting that the African Union has indicated that it may not have enough money to keep its 7,000-strong Darfur operation going until its mandate expires at the end of September.

Because the Sudanese government continued to oppose a UN mission in Darfur, the possibility of having the UN take the place of the African Mission in Sudan also remained in doubt, the secretary-general said.

The United States and Britain introduced a draft UN Security Council resolution on Thursday that would authorize the deployment of 17,000 UN peacekeepers to the Darfur region of Sudan.

Under the resolution, the troops would take over from the African Union's 7,000-strong peacekeepers whose have proved ineffective to curb the surging violence there.

The force would have a mandate to monitor the implementation of the Darfur peace agreement, signed in May between Sudan's government and Darfur's main rebel group.

The draft resolution mandates the force to use "all necessary means" to prevent disruption of the implementation of the peace agreement by armed groups to "protect civilians under threat of physical violence."

The draft resolution asks UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to work out a plan and timetable with the African Union for a transition and for sending in reinforcements.

Scores of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million displaced during the three-year-old Darfur conflict.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)