KINSHASA - A ceasefire and political talks must take place in Sudan's Darfur region before an international military force there could guarantee security, the head of UN peacekeeping said on Tuesday.

An African Union soldier stands guard in the village of Gos Beina during an AU patrol south of the town of al-Fasher in Darfur, June 2006. [AFP]

Jean-Marie Guehenno said the international community must demand assurances an African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur would be effective before it offered funding and equipment.

A Security Council resolution in August authorized some 20,000 peacekeepers but Khartoum has resisted international pressure for UN troops to join the African Union force.

Some 200,000 people have died in ethnic and political violence in Darfur since 2003.

"To stop this tragedy, there must first be a ceasefire on the ground," Guehenno told reporters.

"As long as arms talk, there cannot be a political process, and as long as there is no political process then no force is going to change the situation.

1

2