Sudan expressed optimism Saturday over the possibility of reaching a peace deal in the next three months if Darfur rebel holdouts could join the peace process to end a four-year conflict in the strife-torn region.

Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, Sudan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs El-wasila Alsamani appealed to the international community to help bring the rebel factions, which refused to sign a peace agreement with the government, to rejoin the peace process.

"The most important thing is to address the political issues which will ensure that the non-signatories of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) are brought onboard because this would guarantee that fighting will not continue and no killings or suffering of the Darfurians," the minister said in Nairobi.

He said the 7,800-strong AU peacekeeping force, which has been deployed in Darfur since the government and Darfur rebels reached a cease-fire agreement in April 2004, was too under funded to maintain stability in the region, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and over a million displaced since the conflict erupted in February 2003.

Al-Samani expressed dismay over the slow pace at which steps were being taken to back up the tiny AU contingent, which he said, is short of both money and equipment.

"The other part of it also is to strengthen the AU forces by giving them support. We believe that if more funds and logistics are given to beef up the AU force now on the ground in Darfur, there would be no need to increase the number of peacekeepers," he said.

Sudan agreed in November to a three-stage UN plan that would strengthen the AU operation and culminate in a 22,000-strong joint UN-AU peacekeeping mission.

But in January, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said UN troops were not required in Darfur because the AU force on the ground could maintain order.

Speaking to journalists in Nairobi, Al-Samani said security has been improved and aid agencies given better access to reach the displaced people in the strife torn region.

The minister admitted that security was very complicated matter but insisted that both sides must lay down their weapons at the same time and blamed the rebel disunity as the major obstacle in reaching peace in the Darfur region.

"Despite some weaknesses, there is some improvement in security situation. The killings which are taking place are scattered..it's not in the whole of Darfur. There are some pockets in north of Darfur, few in south Darfur and aid agencies are also providing services," the minister said.

He said that neither the Sudanese army nor regular pro- government paramilitary groups were at present fighting in Darfur, contradicting multiple reports by international observers in Darfur that the army and pro-government militia continue to regularly clash with rebels in the region.

The minister said the Darfur conflict cannot be resolved through military threats and economic sanctions as suggested by world powers, stressing that resorting to such steps would aggravate the problem.

In May last year, Sudan signed a peace accord in Abuja, Nigeria with just one of three existing rebel groups. Since then, splinter rebel groups have emerged.

The Justice and Equality Movement, a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Sudan Federal Democratic Alliance, last June formed a lose coalition called National Redemption Front based in Asmara.

"The rebels must refrain from using arms and continue with political negotiations. The problem can be resolved in three months if these groups can agree to negotiations," Al-wasila told journalists in Nairobi.

"The most important thing is for the rebels to establish a unified position politically," he said, adding that the "only way to end the Darfur conflict in a sustainable way is through negotiations."