Hopes of ending the Darfur crisis went aground Wednesday as one of the two rebel groups participating in the Abuja peace talks with the government announced the collapse of the talks, but the Sudanese government rejected the notion and also a new UN draft resolution threatening sanctions.

Representatives from the rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said they failed to reach any consensus with Khartoum over security issues and the talks could be held off for a month.

"The talks on security issues have collapsed, but we hope to resume in four weeks," JEM representative Ahmed Mohammed Tugod said.

But the Sudanese government said the talks were still going on,and they would be resumed later on Wednesday.

There is currently no comment from the other rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), but Tugod said the SLM negotiators were meeting to consider whether to continue the three-week talks sponsored by the African Union (AU).

In Cairo on the same day, Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail rejected a revised United Nations resolution threatening sanctions, calling it "imbalanced" and "unfair."

The new draft was put forward by the United States on Tuesday, threatening to impose sanctions on Sudan's oil industry if the Sudanese government fails to end the bloodshed in its troubled Darfur region.

The draft resolution still maintains the sanctions that were opposed by several UN Security Council members when a previous version was circulated last week. But Washington now says the decision rests with the Security Council if Sudan does not comply.

Richard Grenell, spokesman for US ambassador John Danforth, said Wednesday that Washington will push for a vote on its UN resolution by Friday.

Nine votes are needed to pass a security council resolution as long as there is no veto from one of the permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

The AU has been active in mediating the conflict in Darfur since its annual summit in July, and has sent military observers and a small "protection force" to the region.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) on Wednesday expressed their willingness to provide assistance to the AU in handling the Darfur crisis.

NATO, a trans-Atlantic military alliance, is studying how it could support any future African Union military mission in the Darfur region following a request from the UN, an alliance official said Wednesday.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed Wednesday the EU's strong support for the AU. "The EU is already committed to supporting the AU in the handling of the Darfur crisis. We will discuss ways and means to enhance such support, notably in the area of police assistance," Solana said in a statement.

Solana said that the EU has long been present and active on theground with cease-fire monitors and humanitarian relief.

"I am confident that ongoing talks between the EU and the AU will result in a strong and lasting cooperation between our organizations in the area of crisis management," he added.

Source: Xinhua