“I can say . . . that we have enough pledges from African nations so that we do not need to turn to forces from non-African countries," Reuters quoted Konare as having said in an AU statement on Monday.

After meeting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum on Sunday, Konare said the United Nations now had to fund the force.

The U.N. Security Council last month authorized the 26,000-strong joint U.N. and African Union force, but the General Assembly has to approve funding for the operation, which will come from the U.N. peacekeeping budget.

Earlier this month, a senior U.N. peacekeeping official said there were sufficient troops for the force, mostly from Africa, but some would come from Asian countries too.

European countries have also pledged soldiers and police.

Konare described as "positive" talks in the Tanzanian town of Arusha where many rebel commanders and factions agreed to a common platform for Darfur peace talks.

"Today it is incomprehensible not to come to the (negotiating) table," he said, urging all rebel factions to attend renewed peace talks, due to begin in three months.

Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Chairman and founder Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur refuses to go to peace talks until a no-fly zone and an oil-for-food programme is imposed on Sudan.

All other factions are open to talks, but differences remain between Khartoum and rebels on whether a peace deal signed by one of three rebel factions in 2006 will be the basis of talks.

Rebels want it scrapped, but Khartoum says it cannot betray those who signed in good faith in the previous talks.

International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in more than four years of fighting in Darfur.

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the remote region.

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