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Feb 10 (Reuters) - Darfur rebels warned a joint U.N.-African Union force against entering areas of West Darfur which the Sudanese government attacked in the biggest offensive in recent months, forcing some 200,000 residents to flee their homes.

Sudan agreed on Saturday to give the U.N.-African Union Darfur peacekeeping force freedom of movement and of communications, removing major barriers to deployment of the 26,000-strong force, a mission official said at the weekend.

The force will absorb a struggling AU force which has failed to stem the violence in Sudan's remote west. Sudan accepted the compromise joint force after months of talks, threats and negotiations.

Here are some details and background:

* THE CONFLICT:

-- Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in 2003 charging it with neglecting Sudan's vast western region. The government armed mostly Arab militias, known locally as Janjaweed, to put down the revolt and also launched air and ground strikes.

-- Experts estimate at least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since the fighting began, some crossing the border into Chad, exacerbating a refugee crisis there. Sudan says 9,000 people have died.

* CEASEFIRE AND TALKS:

-- A ceasefire was agreed in Darfur in April 2004. The African Union sent 7,000 peacekeepers with a mandate to monitor the peace and protect those displaced in the camps. Since then, the ceasefire has been violated repeatedly.

-- A peace deal in May 2006 was signed by only one of three rebel negotiating factions. It was almost immediately rejected by many in Darfur who said it did not go far enough to ensure their security. Rebels have since splintered into a dozen factions, deepening the crisis.

-- A new first round of peace talks started in the Libyan city of Sirte in October, but quickly fizzled out when the major rebel groups decided to boycott them.

-- Many rebel factions have been carrying out their own meeting in south Sudan's capital Juba to try to hammer out a common position. But so far, only a handful of smaller groups have agreed to unite under one banner.

* THE PEACEKEEPING FORCE FOR DARFUR:

-- The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution on July 31, for a new operation known as UNAMID, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur.

-- It authorized, for an initial period of 12 months, up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,432 international police. UNAMID will absorb the 7,000 AU troops and 1,200 police currently in Darfur. It is expected to cost more than $2 billion a year. There is an approved budget until July 2008 of $1.28 billion. -- The mission will operate under a "Chapter 7" mandate on the use of force. This allows it to use force to protect itself and to ensure freedom of movement for its personnel and aid workers. Force could also be used to protect civilians.

-- The force commander is General Martin Agwai of Nigeria.

SOME LOGISTICS:

-- More than a dozen African countries have offered troops including Rwanda, Ethiopia and Egypt, with pledges also from Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda as well as some Asian countries. Burkina Faso, Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal and Pakistan have also pledged police units.

-- Doubts over the composition of the force remain. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has said he will not accept non-African troops. Scandinavian engineering units withdrew their pledge to the mission after Khartoum refused to accept them, and Thai and Nepalese contingents are under debate.

-- Only 9,000 of the 26,000 troops and police required have so far been deployed to Darfur. Ethiopia has pledged five of some 24 attack and transport helicopters needed by the mission, but other member states have been reluctant to provide equipment.

-- The two sides spent many weeks negotiating the final draft of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and reached a deal only after intervention by U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit;)

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