STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden and Norway said on Wednesday they had withdrawn a plan to send about 400 troops to Sudan's war-torn Darfur region because of opposition from the Sudanese government.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said in a joint statement that their countries were being prevented from contributing to an effort to create safety.

"Sudan must bear the full responsibility which has now arisen," the statement said.

A Swedish Foreign Ministry official said both countries regretted the Sudanese position. "We've been preparing this for a long time," the official said. "We regret this."

The troops were intended as part of a joint engineering mission.

Sudan, which has resisted proposals for a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, has insisted that any peacekeeping forces be predominantly African.

On Wednesday, Sudan denied U.N. accusations that Sudanese forces had attacked a U.N.-African Union supply convoy in Darfur this week.

Hundreds of thousands of Darfuris have fled their homes in the past two years for fear of attack by militia mobilised by the government as auxiliaries in a campaign to crush rebels.

Khartoum says the attacks on Darfuris were carried out by "outlaws" and it is not responsible for their actions.