Thailand's Cabinet approved a planTuesday to send one battalion of 800 troops on a one-year mission to the United Nations and African Union joint mission to Darfur by Dec. 31, said government spokesman Chaiya Yimwilai.

The joint mission, called UNAMID, would meet the deadline set by the U.N. Security Council to replace the African Union force by Dec. 31, he said.

"Thailand is well-equipped to join the UNAMID mission, both in terms of personnel and equipment, in order to support the UN's role to maintain international peace and security," Chaiya said.

The troop deployment will cost Thailand 350 million baht (US$10.2 million) for the first six months, according to a government statement.

The joint U.N.-AU force is to be comprised of more than 19,000 military personnel, 6,000 police officers and 5,500 civil personnel. The troop-contributing countries include Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Bangladesh, Jordan, Nepal and Thailand.

The joint U.N.-AU force is meant to replace a beleaguered 7,000-member AU force that has been unable to stop the bloodshed in Darfur. Sudan agreed to the deployment of the joint force after months of international pressure and painstaking negotiations, which ended with a pledge that it would be predominantly African.

The Darfur conflict began when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of neglect. Sudan's government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed - a charge it denies. More than 200,000 people have been killed in four years of violence.

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