"If we are attacked we will retaliate", Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told a press conference in Ankara on Tuesday. This statement comes just days after Britain said it could make 5,000 troops available for Sudan, possibly to defend refugee camps in the crisis stricken region of Darfur. Up to one million refugees are said to be in the region and reports indicate some 55,000 have already died. At an EU foreign ministers meeting earlier this week, Germany and Britain pressed for strong action against the Sudanese government to disarm Janjaweed militia - accused of raping and murdering thousands. However with other EU countries, particularly France, arguing for a more staid approach - and Iraq and Afghanistan firmly in governments' minds - military intervention remains an option, but a far off one. Many human rights groups and aid agences are urging rapid action and say Khartoum is using the Arab Janjaweed to wipe out anti-government rebel groups and is not fulfilling its promise to dissolve them. Sudanese officials deny this and say they are doing all they can to disarm the groups. (EUobsever.com)