Enough African troops for Darfur force -Konare

KHARTOUM, Aug 13 (Reuters) African nations have pledged enough troops for Darfur's 26,000-strong peacekeeping force and non-Africans are not needed, the African Union's top diplomat Alpha Oumar Konare said.

The UN Security Council authorised the joint UN-African Union force last month to police the remote region of western Sudan, where mostly non-Arab rebels and the Khartoum government have been fighting for four years.

''I can say ... that we have enough pledges from African nations so that we do not need to turn to forces from non-African countries,'' Konare said, according to an AU statement today.

After meeting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum on Sunday, Konare said the United Nations now had to fund the force. Funding still has to be approved by the UN General Assembly.

The nationality of the peacekeepers is a contentious issue, with Sudan wanting them to be mostly drawn from Africa.

Earlier this month, a senior UN peacekeeping official said there were sufficient troops for the force, mostly from Africa, but some would come from Asian countries too. European countries have pledged soldiers and police too.

Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said in Paris Senegal would send 1,600 soldiers but was more cautious on raising the force from Africa alone.

''According to what I've seen so far, it's not clear, despite the optimism of the head of the African Union, that we can raise these 20,000 soldiers quickly enough.'' The 26,000-strong peacekeeping force will contain some 20,000 soldiers.

REBELS Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam today said the insurgents should also be consulted on the nationality of the troops.

''The nationality of the troops is very important,'' he said.

''The people of Darfur don't want certain countries, especially those who are condoning the crimes the government is committing in Darfur.'' He declined to specify which countries he meant, but among those to pledge troops is Egypt, which has supported Khartoum diplomatically. Adam noted that after a peace deal in south Sudan, both sides were consulted on composition of a UN force.

Konare described as ''positive'' talks in Tanzania, where many Darfur rebel commanders and factions agreed to a common platform for peace negotiations with Khartoum.

''Today it is incomprehensible not to come to the table,'' he said, urging all rebel factions to attend renewed peace talks, due to begin within three months.

Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Chairman and founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur has refused to go to peace talks until a no-fly zone and an oil-for-food programme is imposed on Sudan.

In Cairo, Yahia Bolad, a spokesman for Nur, said it would not be enough for the force to be made up of African Union troops: ''We feel Western troops must be on the ground in Darfur,'' he said. ''We want European troops to be part of the hybrid force.'' International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million driven from their homes in more than four years of fighting in Darfur. Rebels took up arms in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the remote region.

Reuters SBA VP0220