Chad accepts UN plan for border peace force

N'DJAMENA, Nov 30 (Reuters) Chad accepts a United Nations proposal to deploy an international peacekeeping force on its eastern border to counter the spillover of violence from Sudan's Darfur region, President Idriss Deby said today.

''Chad accepts the United Nations proposal to place forces on its frontier to protect the population and stabilise the sub-region,'' the Chadian leader told reporters after meeting French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin in N'Djamena.

The two made clear such a force would be deployed on the Chadian side of the border with Sudan, which has refused to accept UN peacekeepers on Sudanese soil in Darfur, where three years of conflict have caused tens of thousands of deaths.

Deby, who accuses the Sudanese government of backing attacks by rebels opposed to him and cross-border raids by Arab militias, has appealed for months for international intervention to shore up the violent and porous Chad-Sudan border.

''Chad gives its agreement in principle. There will be exchanges between the African Union and the UN about the mission and the number of the troops to be sent,'' Deby said.

Khartoum denies allegations that it backs the anti-Deby rebels.

REUTERS PB RN2208