The Australian government has rejected a request from the United Nations to send Australian troops to the war-ravaged Darfur region in Sudan, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio reported Friday.

Earlier this week, the United Nations, the African Union and the Sudanese government reached an agreement to dispatch a proposed peacekeeping force to Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed in fighting since 2003.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said the Australian military already has heavy international commitments.

He said Australia would have had to pull troops out of other trouble spots if it agreed to send soldiers to Sudan.

"In order to meet a commitment, a sizeable commitment in Darfur, we would have to pull forces out of other parts of the world to send them there," the prime minister was quoted by ABC radio as saying Friday.

"We have commitments there and once you make commitments you have obligations not to arbitrarily terminate them," he said.

Australia has about 15 troops in southern Sudan as part of a separate U.N. mission.

Source: Xinhua