Sudanese rebels accused government troops and militias of killing more than 50 people in an attack in Darfur, as outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan today began a major international push on the crisis.
On a farewell trip to Africa, Mr Annan convened UN Security Council, EU, Arab League and African Union officials to try and persuade Khartoum to accept a "hybrid" peacekeeping force of AU and UN troops in the conflict-shattered region.
Mr Annan said tonight Sudan accepts in principle UN and African Union forces in Darfur but has yet to agree on the number of troops to be deployed.
"It is agreed in principle that, pending clarification of the size of the force, we should be able to take it forward," he told reporters.
Diplomats said Sudan also had concerns over who would command the force and that Sudanese officials were returning to Khartoum for consultations with the government
But as officials gathered in Addis Ababa, the Sudanese government told UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland all his proposed destinations on a three-day trip to Darfur were too insecure to visit.
This was despite an assurance by Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha yesterday that security was greatly improved.
Violence in Darfur - where some 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.5 million driven from their homes in a conflict raging since 2003 - has been one of the most intractable global crises of Annan's tenure.
Underlining that, the head of one faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said government troops, backed by allied Janjaweed militia, attacked its positions in the Deir Mazza area on yesterday.