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The United Nations Security Council got a firsthand look Thursday at the conflict in Darfur, which has killed some 300,000 people, forced 2.5 million to flee their homes, and shows no sign of a political solution.

Facing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, the council delegation met with officials from the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force that has struggled to get up to its full strength of 26,000 troops since it was launched in January.

The force, which is key to helping protect civilians in the many camps of displaced Darfurians, now stands at 9,000 troops.

One stumbling block has been the Sudanese government's reluctance to allow non-African troops into the region.

But Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers, co-leader of the council delegation, said Sudanese presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie promised Wednesday that Thai and Nepalese battalions could deploy after Ethiopian and Egyptian troops arrive in Darfur.

"We welcomed that as confirming the understanding that had been reached privately between the U.N. secretary-general and president Bashir in a recent meeting," Sawers said.

The commander of the peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, said the agreement was crucial.

"We need the numbers to provide the security, to make the roads safe, to help the humanitarians do their job, even though there is no peace deal at this time," said Nigerian Gen. Martin Agwai.

Agwai said that within three or four months, he expected the force to grow to 13,000 — with the Egyptian, Ethiopian, Thai and Nepalese troops — and he expressed optimism the force could reach its goal of 80 percent of the full deployment by the end of the year.

But the mission still lacks five critical capabilities to become operational — attack helicopters, surveillance aircraft, transport helicopters, military engineers and logistical support.

In grim reports to the Security Council in late April, U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes and the U.N.-AU force's envoy, Rodolphe Adada, said suffering in the western Sudanese region is worsening as fighting escalates, with tens of thousands more people uprooted from their homes.

But Sudan's U.N. ambassador, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed, disagreed. "We don't think there is any humanitarian crisis in Darfur," he said.

The crisis is in "the imagination" of Holmes, he said in El Fasher, where he was accompanying the delegation.

Mohamed said Sudan seeks a negotiated solution with Darfur rebels who rose up against the Khartoum government in 2003. But he suggested the government would not talk with one of the largest rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement, after its fighters launched a surprise attack last month in Omdurman, just outside Khartoum — the first time in decades the rebels had approached the capital.

"Now they have lost their credibility as representing Darfur's people because they came here to the capital and they want to stage a coup d'etat, so they disqualified themselves," he said.

Asked if the government would refuse any talks with JEM, he replied only that the group is "a terrorist organization."

The council delegation was scheduled to tour Zamzam camp near El Fasher, one of the camps housing tens of thousands of Darfurians displaced from their homes by the violence.

South African U.N. ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said there were complaints in the delegation that Sudanese authorities were allowing them only an hour in the camp. "It's like we're tourists," he said.

Council members are to meet President al-Bashir Thursday night.