The UN Security Council Thursday extended the joint peacekeeping mission to Sudan for one year, while at the same time rejecting demands by Libya and South Africa to defer the arrest warrant for Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir.

Prolonged by lengthy diplomatic wrangling, the council's 15 members agreed with a large majority to merely note concerns voiced by the African Union (AU) against al-Bashir's possible prosecution.

The United States abstained from the vote in protest. US Ambassador Alejandro Wolf said voicing concerns against the arrest warrant issued by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague would send the 'wrong signal' to Sudan's president.

The US fully supported the aim to bring those to justice who were responsible for the crimes and atrocities in Darfur, Wolf said. African countries are concerned that an arrest warrant for al-Bashir could endanger peace efforts in the region.

UNAMID, the joint peacekeeping mission of the AU and the UN in Darfur was installed one year ago. However, only about one third of the planned 26,000 peacekeepers are on the ground in Darfur to date.

The soldiers and police were to stop the killing in the region. The Security Council welcomed plans by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to have 80 per cent of the troops on the ground by the end of the year. The council urged UN members to finally provide the 18 transport helicopters necessary for the mission.

About 300,000 people were killed and 2.5 million displaced in the fighting in Darfur which began five years ago, according to the UN.