A letter sent by Sudan’s UN mission to all African and Arab members said: "In the absence of Sudan's consent to the deployment of UN troops, any volunteering to provide peacekeeping troops to Darfur will be considered as a hostile act, a prelude to an invasion of a member country of the UN.”
US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton called a special meeting of the 15-member council to condemn what he called Khartoum's bid "to intimidate" countries planning to contribute troops to the proposed UN peacekeeping force for Darfur.
"This is unprecedented," Mr Bolton said. "This is a direct challenge to the authority of the Security Council ... and requires a strong response."
The US envoy said that if Khartoum's attempt "to intimidate troop contributing countries" was allowed to stand, it would mean the failure of UN plans to deploy a robust UN force in Darfur.
Emerging from the meeting Japan's UN Ambassador Kenzo Oshima said it was agreed that he, in his capacity as the council president for October, would seek "clarification" on the letter from Sudan's UN ambassador.
Some members felt "the language (in the letter) was inappropriate and offensive," Mr Oshima said.
The Japanese envoy said there was some talk of releasing a non-binding statement condemning the Sudanese letter but said most members wanted to focus on the more important issue on how to restore peace in troubled Darfur.
Britain's UN envoy, Emyr Jones Parry, speaking to reporters outlined a four-point Darfur strategy, beginning with a beefing-up of the cash-strapped African Union (AU) force.
He said the United Nations should provide the ill-equipped AU force with technical assistance very quickly.
Mr Jones Parry also stressed the need to get two Darfur rebel groups to sign the peace agreement already signed last May by Khartoum and the main Darfur insurgent movement.
He called for continued international efforts to persuade Sudanese
President Omar al-Beshir that allowing a UN force into Darfur was in Sudan's best interest.
UN force ‘rejected’
In its letter to fellow African and Arab countries, Sudan restated its "total rejection" of the deployment of up to 20,000 UN peacekeepers as mandated by the Security Council in late August to shore up the fragile Darfur peace agreement.
Last month, the UN secured its first pledges for the proposed forces.
But 50 countries that attended a meeting of potential contributors were warned of the many problems facing any attempt to end the conflict.
The Sudanese letter noted that Khartoum "fully supports" the African Union (AU)'s decision to extend the mandate of its cash-strapped 7,200-strong force in Darfur for three months until December 31 after receiving promises of financial and logistical support from the United Nations and Arab states.
The AU said last month it would boost its contingent in Darfur to 11,000 troops and the UN agreed to send 105 staff officers and technical experts to bolster the AU force there.
Also last month, the Security Council unanimously agreed to extend the mandate of the 12,273-strong UN force in southern Sudan for two weeks until October 8 and boost it to up to 20,000 so that it could be shifted to Darfur.
Fighting between government forces and ethnic minority rebels in Darfur has killed an estimated 200,000 people while some 2.5 million others have been displaced.