By Betel Miarom

N'DJAMENA, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The United Nations' top refugee official said on Thursday an international peacekeeping force in Darfur was essential to prevent the whole of central Africa descending into conflict.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, in Chad on a two-day visit, said the international community faced a titanic task in moving some 230,000 Darfur refugees away from the country's violent border area with Sudan.

The east of Chad adjoins Sudan's Darfur region, where a political and ethnic conflict has raged since 2003, killing tens of thousands of people and spilling into neighbouring states.

"If the security situation deteriorates, we will have a very serious problem," the former Portuguese prime minister told a news conference. "That is why a solution to the Darfur problem is necessary for the stability of the whole region."

Guterres' visit came as outgoing U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has launched a last-ditch effort for a "hybrid" peacekeeping force in Darfur consisting of African Union troops with substantial U.N. resources.

Sudan has strongly rejected the possibility of Western troops on its soil, which the Islamic state has likened to a second colonisation.

Washington on Wednesday gave Khartoum until the end of the year to formally accept an international force for the region or accept unspecified U.S. actions.

In a newspaper editorial in Britain's The Independent on Thursday, Guterres also called for a U.N. presence in Chad to protect humanitarian workers and civilians. The proposal has the support of President Idriss Deby's government.

Deby was due to return from eastern Chad on Thursday, where he has been commanding an army counter-offensive against rebel incursions this month which have complicated humanitarian operations. N'Djamena accuses Khartoum of supporting the rebels, but Sudan strongly denies this.

Guterres, who may meet Deby before leaving on Friday to visit the east, focused on the possibility of moving the 230,000 Darfur refugees some 600 km (375 miles) deeper into Chad, away from the desolate Sudanese border. "It is an enormous challenge ... It is necessary to guarantee all the conditions of security and human dignity," he said. "A mixed technical team is working on this issue. It has already visited the sites and will produce a feasibility study."

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