Sudan said it will try to disarm Darfur militias as required by a UN resolution threatening sanctions, but the justice minister cautioned meeting the deadline will be "extremely difficult".
With international pressure mounting and France announcing it would redeploy soldiers in Chad to help bring aid and security to desperate refugees, Sudanese ministers will meet today to formulate a response to the UN vote.
After first dismissing the resolution as "misguided" the government said it would try to comply.
"Sudan is not happy with the (UN) Security Council resolution, but we will comply with it to the best of our ability," Mr Osman Al Said, Sudan's ambassador to the African Union, told a news conference in Ethiopia.
The UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution which threatened Sudan with sanctions in 30 days if it failed to stop Janjaweed attacks and bring them to justice.
Sudan's Justice Minister Mr Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin said in a statement issued in Khartoum that doing so would not be easy.
"Disarming the armed militias within the specified time period will be extremely difficult to achieve regardless of the efforts being exacted by the government," he said.
US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell, during a stop in Kuwait, urged Khartoum to meet UN demands.
"I hope the Sudanese government will use the time provided in the resolution to do everything it can to bring the Janjaweed under control," he told reporters.
Some experts have questioned whether the government in Khartoum could control the Janjaweed if it wanted to.
The United Nations estimates at least 30,000 people have been killed and more than a million others displaced since rebels in Darfur launched an offensive against the government that was repelled by Arab "Janjaweed" militia.