KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) – Sudan does not object to the deployment of more foreign cease-fire monitors and protection troops in crisis-torn Darfur, Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said Saturday.

Ismail’s comments followed U.N. calls for Sudan to allow more than 3,000 troops into Darfur where a 19-month conflict has killed an estimated 30,000 people and driven more than 1 million from their homes. Khartoum has not yet agreed to the U.N. demands.

The European Union kept up pressure on Sudan, renewing its threat to push for U.N. sanctions, including a possible oil boycott and cutting financial aid to the impoverished country, if the government does not act to end the fighting in Darfur.

Ismail told state-run television on “increasing the observers and forces to protect those observers, we do not have any objection to this in principle.”

But the foreign minister stipulated that his government would maintain the final say on which countries could provide more forces to monitor a rarely adhered to April 8 cease-fire deal between Sudanese authorities and two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.

“This has to be done with the consent and approval of the Sudanese government, which should approve the countries from which those observers come and on individual basis.”

He added that Sudan is able to “agree on that with the African Union, in accordance with the expected resolution of the U.N. Security Council.”

Sudan has been cool on allowing Western nations deploy forces to Darfur, but has been more open to troops and monitors being sent by the African Union. The AU currently has about 80 military observers in Darfur protected by just over 300 soldiers.

The United Nations, which describes the situation in Darfur as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, has called on the Sudanese government to do more to disarm Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, blamed for attacking African villagers in Darfur. The United States accuses Sudanese authorities of backing the militia, a claim which Khartoum rejects.

U.N. envoy Jan Pronk, in assessing the situation in Darfur, told the U.N. Security Council this week that thousands of monitors were needed in Darfur. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has backed the call for increased troops.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, current head of the African Union, reiterated Saturday that the 53-nation bloc is ready to send more protection forces and observers to Darfur if Sudan’s government and the rebels wanted them. He was speaking to reporters during a visit to Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

Pronk and U.N. Security Council ambassadors have said they expect the Security Council to continue discussing his report, which was compiled after visits by U.N. teams to Sudan to Darfur. In the coming weeks, the Security Council is expected to draft a new resolution to keep up the pressure on the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.

A July 30 U.N. resolution called on the government to disarm the Janjaweed or face possible diplomatic or economic sanctions. But in his report, Pronk concluded that the time for sanctions “had not yet arrived and that we should give the government a few more weeks.”

That angered the United States which said there was evidence Sudan’s government was backing Arab militias in Darfur.

In the Netherlands, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the situation in Darfur remains worrying.

“We will continue to exert pressure on the Sudanese government to comply … we certainly do not exclude sanctions,” he said.

Ismail reiterated Sudan’s rejection of the threat of sanctions and said it was unlikely that the United Nations would impose any.

“I expect the U.N. Security Council resolution to be made exempt of any sanctions imposition. It will not include any international intervention in Darfur,” he said. “It will demand the government (use) more security measures, such as disarming the militias or cornering and fighting the Janjaweed, and protect citizens in general.”

Ismail also called on the international community to match its words with deeds by helping his government to alleviate the suffering in Darfur.

“Many talk a lot but do little to help the people in Darfur,” he said, adding that the international community “should put their money where their mouths are.”

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