(Changes word to "diplomacy" from "continuously" in fifth paragraph)

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - The Sudanese government must not be allowed to keep playing "cat and mouse" with the international community over ending the violence in Darfur, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.

Under sustained international pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined U.N. and African Union peacekeeping force of 20,000 troops to stop violence in the western province of Darfur that Washington has said amounts to genocide. Khartoum rejects the term.

But Sudan has sent mixed signals about the joint force, saying it should be under the AU's command and control rather than the United Nations', and has suggested it should be mainly African.

Speaking in Washington at a conference on democracy in Latin America and Africa, Rice said the hybrid peacekeeping force was essential to increasing security and she urged African governments to "hold Sudan accountable."

"We must not let the government of Sudan continue this game of cat and mouse diplomacy, making promises then going back on them," Rice said.

International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in ethnic and political conflict in Darfur since the conflict flared in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms after accusing the central government of neglect.

The United Nations said last month the joint force was not expected to be in place for six months. In the meantime, an African Union peacekeeping force does not have the funds to meet expenses and is struggling to make a difference.

U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios is in Sudan this week speaking to government officials and trying to convince Khartoum to agree fully to the force.

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