(Recasts, adds background) By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has refused to accept an interim U.N. plan to bolster African troops in Darfur, calling for more negotiations despite an earlier agreement in principle. Responding to a letter from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, obtained by Reuters on Friday, Bashir said it was still unclear whether the African Union, which has 7,000 under-financed troops in Darfur, would retain total control. The letter, anticipated over the past six weeks, dashed hopes U.N. peacekeepers could be deployed soon, even in auxiliary functions in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died, 4 million need emergency aid and 2.5 million are in makeshift arid camps. Ban's letter spelled out plans for an interim U.N. force with some 3,000 personnel, mainly engineers, logistics and medical units as well as helicopter pilots. That group would plan for a far larger African Union-U.N. operation of more than 22,000 troops and police. In reply, Bashir wrote a three-page letter in English with a 14-page annex in Arabic yet to be translated. He based most of his objections on provisions in the Darfur Peace Agreement, or DPA, signed last May between one rebel faction and the Khartoum government that he said contravened Ban's plans. Since the DPA agreement, the process has moved on, with a U.N.-Sudanese negotiated deal in Addis Ababa on Nov. 16 that was endorsed by Sudan at an African Union meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, two weeks later. Still Bashir wrote, "Proposals that tend to amend, nullify or suspend any article of the DPA will not be acceptable as it may reopen discussions over issues that were previously settled without difficulty." "The Darfur peace agreement is the framework and reference upon which the United Nations should ... deliver its proposed support packages," Bashir said in the letter. He added he was available to "discuss any and all issues to clarify the situation and resolve any outstanding matters." U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Sudan's letter, which arrived on Thursday, "contains some elements which seem to challenge the agreement reached last November in Addis Ababa and Abuja on peacekeeping in Darfur." SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS ISSUE The United Nations, which has been asked to pay for the entire "hybrid" operation, plans to use mainly African troops on the ground and supplement them with Asian forces if enough Africans cannot be recruited. In the letter, Bashir said the U.N. support contingent had to have field personnel "with ranks below that of the military commander." Ban has already agreed the commander would be an African. The Sudanese leader then pointed to a U.N. report that said member states had indicated that "full U.N. involvement in command and control would be a requisite" to financing the operation and the force commander would be appointed in consultation with the United Nations. The Security Council, which has expressed frustration with the delay in answering Ban's letter, intends to discuss the issue next week. Western diplomats hope China, instrumental in reaching agreement on the Addis Ababa plan, would take a strong stand despite its considerable oil interests in Sudan. Britain and other Europeans on the Security Council would like to impose further sanctions on Sudan but Russia and China have veto power and will probably hesitate. Fighting in Darfur began in February 2003 when rebels from non-Arab tribes tribes took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated Khartoum government. The United Nations and humanitarian groups accuse the government of arming Arab militia, known as the Janjaweed, notorious for killing and raping civilians and looting and burning down their homes.
