Sudan agrees operating rules of Darfur peace force

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan and the joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force have agreed the terms under which the 26,000-strong force will deploy in western Darfur, officials said on Monday, removing a major barrier to its operations.

The head of U.N. peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, had previously said conditions set by Khartoum had raised questions over whether the mission, replacing an under-strength African Union force, would be able to deploy at all.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in Darfur since a rebellion broke out there in 2003. The world's largest aid operation is trying to help the Darfuris, but the AU force has been unable to stop the violence in the desert region.

Noureddine Mezni, the spokesman of the mission, called UNAMID, said his side was satisfied with the final draft. "We finalized the SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement). It's going to be signed on Wednesday," he said.

Mezni declined to give details, or to say whether the government had agreed to let UNAMID make night flights or had dropped conditions such as insisting on disabling the mission's communications networks during security operations.

A foreign ministry official said Sudan was still consulting UNAMID on finalizing the draft, but Mezni said the current draft was acceptable to the U.N. and the African Union.

"We are satisfied with the final draft ... and we will be working together in full transparency because we are here for peace," Mezni told Reuters.

The UNAMID force took over on December 31 from the struggling, inexperienced African Union force of 7,000 troops and police who had failed to stem the violence in Darfur.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a Sudanese junior cabinet minister and an allied militia leader for war crimes.

(Reporting by Opheera McDoom, editing by Tim Pearce)