By Daphne Psaledakis and Khalid Abdelaziz
NEW YORK/CAIRO (Reuters) -&nbsp;Sudan's&nbsp;army&nbsp;chief&nbsp;said on Friday&nbsp;he&nbsp;had not sought military support on a recent regional tour and that his preference was for a peaceful solution to the&nbsp;conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions of civilians.
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan also said in an interview with Reuters that&nbsp;he&nbsp;had asked neighbouring states to stop sending mercenaries in support of the&nbsp;paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
War&nbsp;between the&nbsp;army&nbsp;and the&nbsp;RSF broke out in mid-April over plans for a political transition and the&nbsp;integration of the&nbsp;RSF into the&nbsp;army, four years after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was overthrown in a popular uprising.
"Every&nbsp;war&nbsp;ends in peace, whether through negotiations or force. We are proceeding on those two paths, and our preferred path is the&nbsp;path of negotiations," Burhan said on the&nbsp;sidelines of the&nbsp;United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Burhan added that&nbsp;he&nbsp;believed that stalled talks by Saudi Arabia and the&nbsp;United States in Jeddah could still succeed.
Burhan has made a series of foreign visits in recent weeks after remaining in Sudan for the&nbsp;first months of the&nbsp;war. The&nbsp;purpose was to seek solutions, not military support, though&nbsp;he&nbsp;had asked other states to block external backing that&nbsp;he&nbsp;asserts the&nbsp;RSF is receiving,&nbsp;he&nbsp;said.
"We asked our neighbours to&nbsp;help us monitor the&nbsp;borders to stop the&nbsp;flow of mercenaries," said Burhan.
RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as&nbsp;Hemedti, said in a video speech released on Thursday to coincide with an address by Burhan to the&nbsp;U.N. General Assembly that&nbsp;he&nbsp;was ready for a ceasefire and political talks.
Previous claims by both sides that they want peace and are ready for ceasefires have failed to stop bloodshed.
Witnesses say the&nbsp;army's bombardments have caused civilian casualties and that the&nbsp;RSF is responsible for widespread looting, sexual violence and other abuses, as well as participating in ethnically targeted attacks in Darfur.
Burhan on Friday dismissed accusations against the&nbsp;army&nbsp;as propaganda by its rivals. The&nbsp;RSF has denied it is behind the&nbsp;violence in Darfur, and will hold its men accountable for abuses.
Burhan said that&nbsp;army&nbsp;deployment in El Geneina, which suffered the&nbsp;worst mass killings in Darfur, has been limited, hindering their ability to respond.
The&nbsp;violence peaked after the&nbsp;governor of West Darfur was killed on June 14. Burhan said&nbsp;he&nbsp;told the&nbsp;governor to seek protection at a military camp, but the&nbsp;governor had rejected that.
"The&nbsp;armed forces present in El Geneina are not sufficient in number to spread out in every area,"&nbsp;he&nbsp;said.
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(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in New York and Khalid Abdelaziz in Cairoa; Writing by Aidan Lewis; editing by Grant McCool)

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Sudan's army chief says he favours negotiated settlement to war