In news from Africa — the Sudanese government warned on Thursday that it will view the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to Darfur as a hostile act and a prelude to an invasion. Sudan issued the warning in a letter to African and Arab nations. In response, the United States called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

• US ambassador John Bolton: “This is an unprecedented assertion by a government that’s about to be the beneficiary of an extended U.N. peacekeeping mission, attempting to intimidate potential troop-contributing countries and to assert that a humanitarian mission to prevent genocide in Darfur is the prelude to an invasion of the country. So, this is a direct challenge to the authority of the Security Council in its efforts to alleviate the tragedy in Darfur and clearly requires a strong response by the Security Council.”