Addis Ababa — The head of the African Union Commission, Alpha Oumar Konare, called on the United Nations on Wednesday to take over the AU peacekeeping mission in Darfur in order to guarantee the implementation of the region's peace agreement.

A day after failing to obtain Sudan's consent for the transition of the AU peacekeeping force in the volatile western Sudanese region to a UN operation, a 15-member UN Security Council delegation arrived at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa to pursue further talks on the matter.

"Today we need the help of the United Nations to guarantee the implementation of what we signed in Abuja, because if what we have signed is not implemented there will never be peace," Konare told the press after meeting the Council's delegation, led by Britain's UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

Konare said that a handover to the UN was necessary, as the implementation of the Darfur peace deal would require a stronger military presence for which the cash-strapped AU lacked the necessary resources.

"We haven't got the capacity today to face a long conflict or to have a peace-maintaining mission," he said. "We have said we need the United Nations, but the conditions are clear - we have to respect Sudan's sovereignty.

"What we both [UN and AU] think ... is that a transition should take place by the beginning of next year. There should be a UN operation, and it should do so recognising that it will need to have a strong African character. It needs to build on the tremendous job done by AMIS [the AU Mission in Sudan]," Parry added. "Meanwhile, before that, AMIS needs to be reinforced ... the protection of the civilians in Darfur must be enhanced."

After meeting Konare, the delegation was to meet the 15 members of the pan-African body's Peace and Security Council and officials from countries that have contributed troops to the Darfur mission.

On Tuesday, the Security Council team held talks in Khartoum over the deployment of UN troops to Darfur, but the Sudanese government, which has thus far refused to endorse a transition from AMIS to the UN, argued it would consider the proposed handover "step-by-step", despite repeated AU requests for a rapid transition given the instability of the region.

UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Marie Guehenno was also expected in Addis Ababa on Wednesday to help set up a joint UN-AU preparatory mission that would evaluate requirements for the transfer of the AU mission to the UN.

The UN Security Council team is currently on a nine-day Africa tour that will also take them to Darfur, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]