By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Rebel groups in Sudan's western Darfur region are not yet ready for substantive peace talks to end Darfur's five-year conflict, the United Nations special envoy to Darfur said on Friday.

"The parties have no doubt made progress in their preparations (for peace negotiations). But they are still to a great degree not ready to engage in substantive talks," Jan Eliasson told the Security Council.

"The movements still lack consolidated positions and have not yet formed a joint team," he said in a progress report.

The United Nations has been pushing the rebels and Sudan's government to hold new negotiations after a first round in Libya last October made little headway.

Some rebel groups have signed a deal with the Sudanese government but the insurgents have split into many factions and others are still fighting for a renewed peace process.

"While the people of Darfur cannot wait for ever, we will have to accept that the steps toward an eventual peace agreement will be incremental and will take longer than we had initially hoped," Eliasson said.

The Dutch government has indicated that it would be willing to host a new round of talks.

International experts estimate that around 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes in the conflict, which has prompted the world's largest humanitarian operation. Khartoum says the number of dead is much lower and accuses the West of exaggerating.

The United Nations and the African Union are due to deploy a 26,000-strong joint peacekeeping force in Darfur but it has been delayed by a shortage of helicopters and disagreements with Khartoum over its composition.

U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations Jean-Marie Guehenno was also pessimistic about the situation in Darfur, where 9,000 peacekeepers are currently in place.

Thailand and Nepal have offered units to the U.N.-AU force but Khartoum has yet to accept them.

"We urgently require a definitive decision from the government on the inclusion of the Thai and Nepalese units," Guehenno told the council.

He also warned that the force, called UNAMID, might be deployed before a real cease-fire has been achieved across Darfur, an area roughly the size of France.

"The council must be prepared for the eventuality that UNAMID is forced to operate in an environment of continued hostilities," he said. (Editing by Alan Elsner)

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