JAKARTA, Feb 27, Reuter - Cambodian warring factions agreed during their first full day of peace talks in Jakarta on Tuesday that the United Nations should be involved in ending the 11-year war in the country.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, chairing the talks, said the Hanoi-backed Hun Sen government and the three guerrilla factions had agreed in principle that the U.N. should verify the withdrawal of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia.

"The positive side is that both sides are now talking about U.N. involvement," Alatas told a news conference. "But in its practical implementation, yes, we still have a long way to go."

Earlier in the day, the leader of the powerful Khmer Rouge guerrilla group, Khieu Samphan, had appeared intransigent in his demands that a four-cornered govermnent replace Hun Sen in a run-up to U.N. supervised elections.

But Alatas said the positions were more flexible than the harsh statements suggested. "The language has emerged through years of tortuous negotiations and playing with words."

He said fresh fighting in Cambodia and the possibility that the superpowers might impose a solution made agreement among the factions and regional powers more urgent.

"There is an extra sense of urgency because people are dying," Alatas said in a reference to a current battle in northwest Cambodia between the guerrillas and government troops.

But he ruled out any solution from the talks. "If it weren't a complex subject they wouldn't have fought about it for 11 years."

The talks are attended by the four warring factions, Vietnam, Laos, France and Australia. Also present are the six members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Delegates said Indonesia had put together a paper identifying the major points of agreement between the squabbling factions. One delegate said it reflected the thrust of an Australian proposal which has become the main talking point of the current informal talks.

"It deals with the U.N. role, with the composition of a supreme council that will maintain Cambodian sovereignty, with verification of troop withdrawal and disarmament " one delegate said. "We have to assume that the Khmer Rouge are coming around to those ideas."

Political analysts say the Khmer Rouge, held responsible for the death of at least one million Cambodians during their 1974-1978 rule, have most to lose from a negotiated settlement and so are most liable to resist an agreement.

A delegate said Khieu Samphan was expected to discuss the paper with Alatas and his French co-chairman on Wednesday.

Vietnam has said it is prepared to accept U.N. verification of the withdrawal of its troops, which the guerrillas contend has not been completed, but rejects the total dismantling of the government it backs in Phnom Penh.