UNITED NATIONS - Outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan decided to send a senior adviser to Khartoum to clarify Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir's stance on a proposed Darfur peace plan and appointed a new interim special envoy to Sudan.

Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson listens August 2006 during a press conference in Stockholm. Outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan named Eliasson interim special envoy to Sudan. [AFP]

The Ghanaian secretary general, who is relinquishing his post in two weeks' time, met informally with members of the UN Security Council to inform them that he was sending Ahmadou Ould Abdallah, a UN under secretary general from Mauritania, to deliver a letter to Beshir.

Abdallah is to try to get "as much clarity as possible" on Khartoum's position regarding plans to turn the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in strife-torn Darfur into a "hybrid" AU-UN force, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The Mauritanian troubleshooter is to begin his "one-off" mission Wednesday following a telephone conversation Sunday between Annan and Beshir, the spokesman added.

Meanwhile, France's UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said after the meeting with Annan that Swedish former foreign minister Jan Eliasson was named interim special representative to Sudan.

The appointment of Eliasson, a popular former president of the UN General Assembly, "was supported by everyone (on the council)," de La Sabliere said.

"Eliasson will give diplomatic support to efforts under way to speed up a solution to the (Darfur) crisis" until the appointment of a permanent special representative," Marie Okabe, the deputy UN spokeswoman said.

Eliasson will work in Khartoum until the appointment of a successor to special envoy Jan Pronk, an outspoken Dutch diplomat who was expelled by Khartoum in October for criticizing the performance of the Sudanese army in Darfur and repeatedly pushing for the deployment of UN peacekeepers there.

"We need now some concrete decisions (by Khartoum)," de La Sabliere said. "We hope this letter from the secretary general to President Beshir will help us move forward."

Late last month, Sudan accepted a three-phase plan in Abuja, Nigeria, under which the UN would assist the under-funded and ill-equipped 7,000-strong AU contingent that has failed to stem four years of bloodshed in Darfur.

The UN support package's first two stages consist of technical and logistical help that would pave the way for a "hybrid" peacekeeping force that has yet to be approved by Beshir.

Annan's meeting with the 15 council members was also attended by his designated successor, Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea, and by the envoys of the five new incoming non-permanent members of the Security Council - Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama and South Africa - which are to join on January 1.

Last August, the Security Council passed a resolution calling for the deployment of 20,000 UN peacekeepers, but Beshir has vehemently opposed such a move, accusing the West of seeking to turn his country into a "second Iraq".

The United States, which accuses Beshir's regime of genocide in the western Sudanese region, and Britain have threatened to impose a no-fly zone over Darfur if Khartoum continues to reject the deployment of UN peacekeepers.

The war in Darfur, which has now spilled over into neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic, erupted in February 2003 when rebels from minority tribes took up arms to demand an equal share of national resources, prompting a heavy-handed crackdown from the Sudanese government forces and their Janjaweed proxy militia.

At least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been displaced as a result of the combined effects of war and famine, according to UN figures. Some sources say the toll is much higher.