By Opheera McDoom
EL-FASHER, Sudan, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force will begin operating in Darfur by early next year, the mission's political head said on Wednesday as the force's new headquarters was inaugurated in western Sudan.
A 26,000-strong force will absorb a struggling AU mission of 7,000 troops which has failed to stem the violence in Sudan's remote west. Sudan accepted the much larger joint mission after months of talks, threats and negotiations.
"At the beginning of next year we will begin to be operational," Rodolphe Adada told reporters in el-Fasher, where the U.N.-AU force will be headquartered.
He said 4,000 members of a U.N. "heavy support" package would deploy to add to the AU troops on the ground.
But he said they were still waiting for Sudan's approval of the list of troop contributing countries for the force, as well as some aviation and other logistics which the United Nations had hoped Western nations would provide.
"The only concern is about one or two non-African countries who have pledged some infantry troops," he said about why Khartoum had not yet approved the force composition.
Khartoum had insisted the force be mostly African.
Adada was in el-Fasher on Wednesday to inaugurate the headquarters of the new force. Rows of dozens of empty pre-fabricated huts filled the site surrounded by desert in the outskirts of the town.
A lack of water and the provision of land pose a huge obstacle to the force deployment, issues which must be fully resolved before it can begin to protect millions of Darfuris dependent on the world's largest aid operation there.
The force, to be known as UNAMID, also has no ceasefire to monitor. Adada said the old ceasefire commission monitoring an April 2004 truce would be suspended as new talks have started in the Liyban town of Sirte.
Adada said the talks hoped to agree an "interim mechanism" to monitor any truce.
But with key rebel factions boycotting the negotiations, the hopes for an early ceasefire agreed in Sirte were dashed. They set difficult conditions for attendance and asked for more time to unite their ranks. A key rebel leader has also said he would not take part in talks until the U.N. was in Darfur to provide security.
"This is part of their conditions to establish UNAMID, and we are establishing UNAMID now," Adada said.
While the joint U.N.-AU mediations has refused to adjourn the talks despite the non-attendance of rebels, they will send a team to meet the hold-out groups to bring them to the table.
International experts estimate some 200,000 people have died in 4-1/2 years of fighting in Darfur since mostly non-Arabs took up arm in early 2003 accusing central government of neglect.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for a cabinet minister and militia leader both accused of colluding in war crimes.
