(Adds quotes, details) By Patrick Worsnip UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A series of obstacles raised by Sudan is putting in doubt the planned deployment of a peacekeeping force for Darfur, the United Nations peacekeeping chief said on Tuesday. Jean-Marie Guehenno told the Security Council Khartoum's reluctance to smooth the path for dispatching the 26,000-strong U.N.-African Union mission meant a decision might eventually have to be taken on whether to go through with the deployment. Problems detailed by Guehenno included Sudan's objections to some non-African units, failure to provide land, curbs on helicopter flights and quest for a status of forces pact that he said "would make it impossible for the mission to operate." Those actions cast doubt on Sudan's past promises to facilitate the deployment of the "hybrid" force in the war-torn region, he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was calling on Security Council members and regional leaders to persuade Sudan's government to make a "strategic decision" to support deployment of the UNAMID force it has already agreed to, Guehenno said. "Should the anticipated discussions fail to clear the path to the deployment of an effective force, the international community will be confronted with hard choices," he said. "Do we move ahead with the deployment of a force that will not make a difference, that will not have the capability to defend itself, and that carries the risk of humiliation of the Security Council and the United Nations, and tragic failure for the people of Darfur?" The peacekeepers are supposed to take over from an existing AU force in Darfur from January and bring security to its people after more than 4-1/2 years of fighting between rebels and government forces. But Khartoum has not agreed to a Thai infantry battalion, a Nepalese special forces unit and a Nordic engineering unit that the U.N. considers vital. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said last week he would not accept non-African troops apart from Chinese and Pakistani units already committed. ADVANCE NOTICE Statements by Sudanese officials "create serious uncertainty with regard to the government's commitment to the deployment of UNAMID," Guehenno said. The status of forces agreement Sudan wanted would allow it to temporarily disable the force's communications network in case of security operations by Khartoum and require UNAMID to give it advance notice of all movements, he said. But his criticisms were not limited to Khartoum. Five weeks before UNAMID was due to replace the ineffective and much smaller AU force, contributing countries had still not come up with essential helicopter and transport units, he said. Guehenno also castigated two Darfur rebel groups for making threats against the Chinese engineering unit, part of which has already arrived in Darfur. Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem told the Security Council that discussions on the composition of UNAMID should take place in three-way talks between Sudan, the United Nations and the AU, and not in the council. He said the question had to be resolved in line with agreements that the force would be African in character and "taking into consideration Sudan's concerns", and that administrative problems should not be exaggerated. Western ambassadors echoed Guehenno's criticisms. "The Sudanese government's footdragging and obstruction risks making (deployment) impossible," said Britain's John Sawers, who also referred scathingly to Abdalhaleem's "harangue". But Chinese envoy Wang Guangya said the international community should focus on a political settlement in Darfur. U.N. special envoy for Darfur Jan Eliasson, a mediator at peace talks that began in Libya last month between Khartoum and some Darfur rebel groups but made little headway, said both sides should be given time to prepare for another round. "We should not risk the credibility of this process by rushing to convene the ... talks if we do not have a critical mass of participants ready for them," he told the council. (Editing by Stuart Grudgings)
