By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS, April 12 (Reuters) - Sudan seems to have misunderstood U.N. intentions when it rejected helicopter gunships as part of the world body's plans for an operation in Darfur, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday. The United Nations is close to completing a deal with Sudan to bolster the 7,000-strong African Union force in Darfur with some 3,000 U.N. personnel, but Khartoum has not agreed on an AU-U.N. operation of more than 20,000 troops and police. Sudan has objected to fielding helicopter gunships. "There seems to be some misunderstandings on the part of the Sudanese government on this equipment," Ban told reporters. "This peacekeeping is itself by definition a peacekeeping operation -- it is not for any offensive" purposes. Ban said that the deployment of troops required mobility and deterrence in case they were attacked. "This is just standard equipment about which they should have no concern." Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who met Ban at an Arab League summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month, has opposed troops on the ground from anywhere but Africa. Others, he said, could participate in command centers and help with logistics. Ban emphasized that the force commander and his deputy would be Africans. "Therefore, I hope there should be no such concern. We will continue to alleviate such concerns." The under-financed and under-equipped AU force has been unable to stop violence in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced to flee their homes, many to arid camps. Fighting began four years ago among the Arab-dominated government and militia who support them and African rebels, and it has spilled into neighboring Chad. Ban noted that he was chairing high-level consultation at U.N. headquarters with AU chief executive Alpha Oumar Konare and the two envoys trying to fashion a peace accord, Jan Eliasson for the United Nations and Salim Ahmed Salim for the African Union. Because of the ongoing talks, Ban last week asked the United States and Britain to delay a draft resolution imposing sanctions in the U.N. Security Council as well as bilateral penalties Washington has drawn up. Both have agreed. The proposed U.N. sanctions are expected to include an arms embargo, financial or travel bans on targeted individuals and institutions, and some monitoring of military overflights in Darfur, diplomats said. Among new U.S. sanctions is the addition of 29 Sudanese companies. Ban, who assumed his post on Jan. 1, said Sudan was at the top of his agenda and he would "step up my diplomatic efforts to resolve the Darfur situation."
