U.N. says Darfur conflict spinning out of control

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Two top United Nations officials warned on Friday the situation in Sudan's western Darfur region was spinning out of control toward full-scale war.

U.N. special envoy to Darfur Jan Eliasson told the Security Council the region's disparate rebel groups have made only limited progress in preparing for new peace negotiations and were not yet ready for serious peace talks.

He said latest reports from West Darfur state that Sudanese government aircraft, army and militia had attacked three towns on Friday showed how "disturbing" the situation had become.

"It looks like a rather large-scale operation," Eliasson told reporters about the attacks. "The situation is running out of control. We cannot get the political talks going if we cannot have an atmosphere ... in which talks can take place."

Jean-Marie Guehenno, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, also sounded pessimistic, saying a planned 26,000-strong peace force faced continued obstacles in deploying and might have to operate as hostilities continued.

Guehenno said in western Darfur the conflict was beginning to look like full-scale war.

"For a peacekeeping force to operate in the midst of a war is a very dangerous position to be in," Guehenno said. Under such conditions "a peacekeeping force cannot by and of itself stop that violence."

Guehenno warned that the crisis in neighboring Chad and atmosphere of mistrust between Sudan and its neighbor risked widening the Darfur conflict beyond Sudan's borders.