Visiting Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail on Wednesday rejected a revised UN Security Council draft resolution over the Darfur crisis in western Sudan.

"This is imbalanced, unfair and we are rejecting it as we rejected the first draft," Ismail told reporters, referring to the US-drafted resolution threatening to consider sanctions against Sudan.

On Tuesday, the United States softened its tone about possible UN sanctions against Sudan, but sticked to the threat of punitive measures if the Sudanese government could not end the bloodshed in Darfur.

US Ambassador John Danforth distributed a revised text that threatened to consider sanctions on Sudan's oil industry and called for an expanded African Union mission protection force in Darfur.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, Ismail said the United State has attempted to exploit the Darfur crisis to serve a political agenda -- the presidential elections.

"Washington wanted to divert the world's attention away from the problems in Iraq and for the sake of the elections," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 16, 2004)