The report for the UN Security Council did note some progress, but called for more foreign troops to go to Sudan.

The Sudanese ambassador to the UN described the report, which did not recommend any sanctions, as balanced.

Up to 50,000 people have been killed in Darfur, following a campaign by Arab militias against black Africans.

The violence has exacerbated a humanitarian crisis, which has seen one million people driven from their homes.

Ambassador Elfatih Erwa said Sudan had not been able to do all that the UN wanted because of what he called environment and circumstances.

In a BBC interview, Sudan's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Najib Al-Kheir Abd-Al-Wahab, said security was a complicated process, but he insisted that the Sudanese government could maintain law and order in Darfur.