UN upbeat on Darfur force but Sudan has conditions

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 28 (Reuters) Minutes after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed Sudan's acceptance of a mixed African Union-UN force in turbulent Darfur, Khartoum's UN ambassador mapped out a different scenario.

Annan briefed the Security Council on a letter from Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in which Khartoum endorsed a three-step UN proposal to gradually strengthen the understaffed African Union force of 7,000.

The third step is a hybrid African Union-United Nations force. Although the council had authorized up to 22,500 troops and police, Annan said the numbers would be worked out by an AU-UN technical team.

''The president has accepted the three-phased approach as a package, and we will have to move ahead and implement it, push it, and -- even those who have some doubts -- to test it and push it very quickly,'' said Annan, who ends 10 years in office on Sunday.

But Sudan's UN ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleen, said that while Khartoum accepted the concept of a ''hybrid'' force, ''we are not talking about any joint force by the United Nations and the African Union.'' He said the United Nations should finance the African troops and provide ''backstopping'' such as engineers, communications and logistical personnel.

Abdalhaleen said ''the idea'' of 20,000 foreign troops had been dropped and the size of the force was being reassessed.

Furthermore, he said that Khartoum saw no need for thousands of extra troops since its own army and the 7,000 African Union soldiers provided enough security in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died, violence is increasing and Sudan has been accused of firing on civilians in villages.

Whether the United Nations and Sudan are using different terminology to describe the same situation remains unclear.

UN plans have focused on African troops on the ground, augmented by soldiers from other regions, like Asia, if enough cannot be recruited. But Westerners would be in command centres and in the air.

''This is a challenge for the Sudanese government to prove to the international community that it means business, that it stands by the letter that it has written to me,'' Annan said yesterday. ''So we are going to press ahead. And I hope this time there will not be disappointments.'' Annan said that the question of the colour helmets -- green for the African Union, blue for the United Nations -- had also been resolved. UN troops can wear blue with an armband from the African Union, which will name the commander.

US SKEPTICAL Several diplomats also were skeptical. The acting US ambassador, Alejandro Wolff told reporters,'' The proof of this will be action on the ground and whether or not we will actually see a force that can take its place in Darfur to address the humanitarian crisis there and help deal with the fighting.'' But Wolff said that, ''If this letter and the commitments laid out in the letter by the president result in the deployment of the long-awaited hybrid force of the United Nations and the African Union -- then indeed it will be a welcome development.'' Non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing the central government of marginalizing the remote western region on the border with Chad. To quell the revolt, Khartoum armed militia, who embarked on a campaign of rape, murder and pillage. Some 2.5 million people have been uprooted and are now terrorised by rebel factions also.

Reuters SBA VP0750