(adds quotes, background) By Alexandra Hudson AMSTERDAM, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Top U.N. envoy Jan Pronk said on Tuesday he had no regrets about comments he made concerning the situation in Darfur which led to his expulsion from Sudan, and said he hoped he could return to the country. "I am still the special envoy to Sudan -- just now not in Sudan itself," he told Dutch radio station BNR Nieuwsradio in his first interview since leaving Khartoum. Pronk left Sudan on Monday after he published comments on his Web site saying the Sudanese army lost two major battles to rebels in North Darfur and morale was low. The remarks infuriated Sudan's powerful armed forces who called Pronk a threat to security. Pronk told BNR the information was widely available and it was not the Weblog itself that lay behind his expulsion. "The main thing is that a peace accord was signed in Darfur but the military are trampling all over it and are still trying to gain a military victory," he said. "I have been trying constantly over the last months to expose this and this doesn't suit them." Observers say his expulsion exacerbated existing tensions between the government in Khartoum and the United Nations at a time when the world body is stymied in its efforts to send U.N. troops and police to take over the Darfur peacekeeping mission. Asked whether he should have been more diplomatic, Pronk replied: "I was extremely careful". Pronk said he had kept to three rules in his work -- never to talk about conversations, to be balanced and fair, and not to criticise individuals. The last days had been nerve-racking, he said, while the Sudanese government weighed whether to expel him. "HOSTILE ATTITUDE" "It was said that I had displayed a hostile attitude towards the Sudanese government over the past year which is not the case, but they are trying to build a case," he said of the Sudanese authorities. Pronk gave the interview on a stop in the Netherlands en route to New York. He said he will brief U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday. Chief U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Pronk still has the full support of Annan. "As far as we are concerned, his status remains unchanged," Dujarric said at U.N. headquarters. Sudan's army last week called Pronk a threat to the country's national security. Sudan's Foreign Ministry said it would continue to cooperate with the United Nations and Pronk's replacement. Experts estimate 200,000 people have died in 3-1/2 years of fighting and that 2.5 million have been forced from their homes in Darfur. Washington calls the rape, looting and murder in Darfur genocide, a charge Khartoum rejects. African Union soldiers have been unable to stem the bloodshed in western Sudan. The United Nations has passed a resolution authorising the U.N. mission but it cannot send in troops without Khartoum's permission. Khartoum refuses, saying U.N. troops in Darfur would be tantamount to a Western invasion force. Pronk, 66, a former Netherlands development minister, served several terms in the Dutch parliament and was in the cabinet under two prime ministers. Annan named him U.N. special representative for Sudan in June 2004. But he spent more time on the separate Darfur crisis. African Union Commission Chairman Omar Alpha Konare on Tuesday expressed regret over U.N. envoy Jan Pronk's expulsion from Sudan and hailed him as a human right hero. "The chairperson pays tribute to Mr Pronk for his commitment to human security and human rights and for the tireless efforts he has deployed in the promotion of reconciliation and lasting peace in the Sudan," the AU said in a statement. (additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa)
