(Adds Brahimi on African troops paragraphs 9-11) By Opheera McDoom KHARTOUM, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Ethiopia pledged 5,000 troops to a future U.N.-African Union peacekeeping mission for Darfur on Thursday, just days after the worst attack on peacekeepers already in Sudan's war-ravaged region. The 26,000-strong joint mission is to replace a hard-pressed AU force that lacks experience, equipment and cash and has been unable to stop the conflict. Some 200,000 people are estimated to have died in the fighting and an ensuing humanitarian crisis. Ten AU peacekeepers were killed on Saturday and seven were seriously wounded, prompting a new call for Western nations to pledge troops and equipment to the joint U.N.-AU mission due to take over on Jan. 1. "Ethiopia is ready, the troops are equipped, and we are waiting for a request from the AU and the United Nations to disperse the troops to Darfur," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told a news conference in Addis Ababa. While African nations have pledged more than enough infantry for the joint force, its future leader, new AU force commander Martin Luther Agwai, said this week few African armies had enough troops that met U.N. standards. Agwai, a Nigerian said not many African countries could provide troops able to sustain themselves for six months. "There's no African country that can have the equipment we need, for example in air assets," he added. Nigeria, one of the best armies in Africa, could not do it and Western and other non-African nations needed to step in, he said. Agwai said the 7,000-strong AU force was "outgunned and outnumbered" by many of the parties in the Darfur conflict. U.N. officials say AU head, Alpha Oumar Konare has turned down non-African troops, agreeing with Khartoum to prefer an all-African infantry. Bur veteran peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said in Sudan Konare would come around, ahead of a meeting on Friday. "He would like to have an all-African force but I think he's realistic enough to know that this is not possible." A Nigerian army team meanwhile arrived in Darfur to repatriate the bodies of seven Nigerian soldiers killed last Saturday in the worst attack on the force. The bodies of three dead from Mali, Botswana and Senegal were also to be flown back to their countries. The condition of seven soldiers seriously wounded in the attack had stabilised after being taken to a Khartoum hospital. International elder statesmen including two Nobel Peace Prize winners said on Thursday Darfur was rife with violence and deeply divided, after returning from the Sudanese region. The group, including Nobel laureates former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said rape was widespread and ignored by the Sudanese authorities. They also urged Khartoum to hand over war crimes suspects for trial at the International Criminal Court. STICKING IT OUT Saturday's attack by suspected rebel factions destroyed the AU base in Haskanita, southeast Darfur. The mosque was burned and vehicles and weapons looted. Initially almost 60 troops went missing, but AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said all but one had now been found. Agwai said he had almost completed a plan to improve direct control over outlying AU sites to offer them better protection. U.N. Sudan envoy Jan Eliasson told Reuters in Stockholm it was unclear who was behind the attack. "There are some sources claiming this is renegade or small factions of a group not acting in the spirit of the leadership," he said. "We have noted that important leaders of the different rebel movements have condemned this terrible act and by that committed themselves to the talks and the process of finding a political solution." The AU infantry is mostly from Nigeria, Senegal and Rwanda with a smaller South African contingent. Senegal had said it may withdraw its troops if it found the AU could not defend itself. But Rwanda and Nigeria agreed to stick it out. "It's a cowardly and barbaric move to kill troops supposed to bring peace to you," said Rwanda army spokesman Jill Rutaremara. "We will keep firm on the ground and accomplish the mission that we went in to Darfur to do." Rwanda has lost six soldiers in Darfur since the mission started. International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died in Darfur, with 2.5 million driven from their homes sparking the world's largest humanitarian operation. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a junior government minister and allied militia leader accused of colluding in war crimes in Darfur. Khartoum refuses to hand them over. (Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Arthur Asiimwe in Kigali and Peter Apps in Stockholm)
