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By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA, June 16 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council ambassadors will seek confirmation of a deal for a boosted Darfur peacekeeping force when they meet Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum on Sunday.

Ending a day of talks with African Union officials in Ethiopia, the delegation said it discussed Darfur at length after Sudan agreed this week to allow a joint AU-UN force of at least 20,000 troops and police, but said command and control should be left to the AU.

"The agreement ... was a breakthrough," South African envoy Dumisani Kumalo told reporters. "We require confirmation of its speedy implementation from the government of Sudan when we meet the president."

Britain's Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry had earlier said there was a clear understanding in Friday's talks of the need to move quickly with the deployment of 3,000 military personnel from the United Nations to shore up the beleaguered AU force of 7,000 already in Darfur.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in four years of war and 2.5 million others have been driven from their homes by rape, looting and killing in Darfur. Washington calls the violence genocide, a term European governments are reluctant to use.

Khartoum says the Western media have exaggerated the conflict and that only 9,000 have been killed. It has said the majority of troops in the new hybrid force must be African.

The United Nations, which will be expected to fund the mission, has said it wants overall command of the force.

PACIFYING SOMALIA

The talks with AU Commission Chairman Alpha Omar Konare also covered Somalia, where the AU says lack of funds mean African nations that volunteered peacekeepers to help support the fragile interim government have been unable to do so.

There are 1,600 Ugandan soldiers patrolling for the AU in the capital Mogadishu, where they have been targeted by Islamist extremists waging a guerrilla insurgency.

In another blow to peace efforts in the chaotic Horn of Africa nation, a long-awaited peace conference due to start this week was postponed for a second time.

Jones Parry said the Security Council delegation reiterated its backing for the AU mission in Somalia, and it was crucial the government involve the broadest possible representation from the country's clans in its reconciliation efforts.

The delegation also expressed support for strengthening the AU's broader peacekeeping capacity because the AU was entering war zones on behalf of the international community.

Konare and the ambassadors also discussed Chad, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The ambassadors travel to Ghana, Ivory Coast and DRC after Sudan.

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