* Envoys press government to avert war with south

* Sudan accuses prosecutor of wrecking Darfur peace hopes

* Western envoys unsatisfied with Khartoum response on court

By Louis Charbonneau

KHARTOUM, June 4 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council envoys pressed Sudan's government on Wednesday to avert a return to civil war with the south and over the separate conflict in its western Darfur region.

Khartoum accused an international prosecutor of wrecking the peace process for Darfur.

The Security Council mission to African hot-spots is spending three days in Sudan to try to keep a 2005 north-south peace deal on track and help bring peace to Darfur. Africa's biggest country has suffered decades of strife.

After meetings in Khartoum on Wednesday and in semi-autonomous south Sudan the day before, the envoys said they were hopeful there would be no return to all-out war between north and south despite recent clashes in the Abyei region.

"We're not out of the woods yet but there does seem to be movement," said South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo.

On Thursday, the 15 council members head to Darfur, where rebels took up arms in 2003, before returning to Khartoum for talks with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Like the southern Sudanese, who fought a two decade civil war, the largely non-Arab Darfuri rebels accuse Khartoum of neglecting their western region.

Recent clashes in the central town of Abyei have kindled fears of a return to all out north-south war. Both sides covet the oil-producing region, whose future was left unsettled in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) three years ago.

"Implementation is behind track and there's a lot of frustration, particularly in the south," Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers told reporters after the council met Vice President Ali Osman Taha to discuss the CPA.

He said the council had brought northern and southern officials the same message -- to fully implement the CPA.

Sudan's Foreign Minister Deng Alor said the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's ruling National Congress Party held talks on Abyei on Wednesday and would reconvene on Thursday.

DARFUR CHALLENGE

Darfur could be an even tougher challenge for the Security Council.

Sudan accused the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday of preparing a "fictitious and vicious" case against government officials. Luis Moreno-Ocampo is due to brief the Security Council on Thursday.

"Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan," said Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem.

Moreno-Ocampo's report, obtained by Reuters, makes clear he plans to open a case against senior members of the government for war crimes in Darfur. The court already has arrest warrants out for two officials, but Sudan refuses to hand them over.

International experts say the five-year conflict in Darfur has caused the deaths of at least 200,000 people. The government says 10,000 have been killed.

Several council members raised the international court issue in a meeting with Nafie Ali Nafie, an adviser to Sudan's president, who reiterated Khartoum's view that it was not bound by the ICC and would never hand over any suspects.

"We got an unsatisfactory reply," Britain's Sawers told reporters about Nafie's response.

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters that as a "member of the European Union we are ready to consider some further steps" against Sudan if it ignores the ICC. He gave no details, though such language usually means sanctions.

Council members said they were pleased Sudanese officials had promised to let more international troops into Darfur. The council has approved deployment of 26,000 U.N.-African Union peacekeepers but only 9,000 are there.

Prospects for peace are grim. Sudanese factions accuse each other of lacking good faith, the rebels are divided and hopes for talks sank last month when the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) attacked Omdurman, a Khartoum suburb. (Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

AlertNet news is provided by