The proposals should be "balanced to encourage the continuation of negotiations and not the contrary," Maher told reporters after a meeting here with US special envoy to Sudan, John Danforth.

He was referring to the peace plan put forward by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), an east African regional grouping which recently brokered peace talks in Kenya between the Sudanese government and southern rebels.

The IGAD plan, which hinged on provisions for power- and resource-sharing between the two sides, was rejected by Khartoum, but accepted by the rebel Sudan's People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

It is essential that "any initiative concerning the solution (of the conflict) favours a united Sudan in which people can access land and wealth fairly," the Egyptian minister said.

Danforth stressed that the IGAD proposals, backed by the United States, are "a basis for serious talks on the main issues, and are not a final document".

The sixth round of inter-Sudanese talks, which sought to bring an end to 20 years of civil war in the country, collapsed on Saturday over disagreements on the IGAD paper.

Talks with the SPLA are scheduled to resume in the western Kenyan town of Nakuru on July 23.

On Monday, Khartoum called on the Arab League and Egypt to intervene in order to persuade the southern rebels and IGAD to review their positions.

On Wednesday, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir called the IGAD proposals a "document of war, destruction and division", the government daily Al-Anbaa said.

The SPLA has been fighting since 1983 to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Arab Muslim government in Khartoum.

The conflict in Africa's largest country has cost an estimated 1.5 million lives and displaced about four million people.

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