By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, July 30 (Reuters) - Britain and France have modified a U.N. resolution authorizing up to 26,000 troops and police in Darfur by narrowing the scope of where force can be used and dropping some language offensive to Sudan.

The draft, the third one this month, obtained by Reuters on Monday and distributed to U.N. Security Council members over the weekend, is expected to be adopted this week, but further changes are possible.

"We are very close and our expectation is to finalize the text in the next 24 hours," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said after council consultations. But he said some discussions were still needed before a vote could be called.

Estimated to cost more than $2 billion in the first year, the operation is an effort to quell violence in Sudan's western region, where more than 2.1 million people have been driven from their homes and an estimated 200,000 have died.

The draft leaves intact a tough mandate, Sudan's biggest complaint, that would allow the use of force to ensure the security and movement of the mission's personnel and humanitarian workers and "to protect civilians under threat of physical violence."

Parts of the resolution are under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which makes it mandatory. It would allow the mission "to use necessary means," a euphemism for a use of force, "as it deems within its capabilities." The previous draft had called for "all necessary means," but the meaning remains the same, diplomats said.

Deleted from the Chapter 7 section and put elsewhere in the text is the monitoring of arms in Sudan in violation of the peace agreement, which indicates force cannot be used.

CHINA RESPONSE

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose country has oil investments in Sudan, said that "under certain circumstances Chapter 7 is needed" but "we have to be precise and very careful where it is applied." He said there were improvements in the draft but others were still necessary.

Unlike earlier comments from Sudan, Wang, however, did not call for the elimination of Chapter 7 in the text.

The new draft text also sets a series of target dates for a transfer of authority from the African Union to a combined AU-UN force that would operate in Sudan's Darfur region, although full deployment is expected to take a year.

Most of the infantry troops are expected to be from Africa, absorbing the 7,000 AU contingent now in Darfur.

The initial operational capability for the new headquarters is now Oct. 31, so that U.N. members could cover costs for the African Union, as the United States had proposed.

The timetable is then staggered so that the combined force, called UNAMID, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, will be in charge of all operations by Dec. 31.

The new text also deletes the word "condemns," such as in continued violations of peace accords. It eliminates a specific reference to the Janjaweed, a brutal pro-Khartoum militia, blamed for rape, murder and burning villages.

An earlier text deleted a provision on a threat of "further measures," a code word for sanctions, against rebels or the government if they obstruct a peace process.

Specifically, the text would authorize up to 19,555 military personnel and 6,400 civilian police. It calls on member states to "finalize" their contributions within 90 days of adoption. Sudan has agreed to the troop numbers.

AlertNet news is provided by