The UN and the African Union (AU) have agreed on the command structure of a joint peacekeeping force to be deployed in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region.

Under the plan, the AU will run day-to-day operations, while the UN is expected to have overall control.

The UN will hold a series of meetings with Sudan's president next week to determine whether he will agree to the deployment of the 20,000-strong force.

The current AU force of 7,000 has struggled to contain the violence.

More than 200,000 people have died in the four-year conflict and some 2m are in camps after fleeing their homes.

Uncharted territory

After a false start, the AU and UN have now agreed on the command and control structure of the force and the details have been sent to the Sudanese government.

The idea of a joint force is, said a senior UN official, uncharted territory.

It has been created to get round the objections of the Sudanese government, who do not want a solely UN force, which they say would be like a Western invasion of their country.

So the question of who would control the peacekeepers has been a fraught one to resolve. There will be an African force commander giving day-to-day orders to the troops.

The idea, say UN officials, although this is not quite spelled out in the agreement, is for the UN to have overall operational control of the peacekeepers.

The UN hopes the Sudanese government will agree to this arrangement .

They agreed to the deployment in principle back in November.

Next week, UN officials and then Security Council members will meet President Omar al-Bashir.

However, even if the Sudanese agree, it will be the early part of next year before the peacekeepers are actually in Darfur.

If Khartoum seems once again to be dragging its feet on allowing the deployment, the US and UK have threatened to try and apply UN sanctions.

However, diplomats admit there is not a majority in favor of that in the UN Security Council right now.

PHOTO CAPTION

African Union troops mustering in Rwanda before their mission to Darfur