U.S. Push for Sudan Sanctions Opposed

President Bush, left, and Lawrence Swiader, Chief Information Officer for the U.S. Holocaust Museum, stand in front of a online display of the Google's satellite imagery web site: Google Earth, to promote awareness of the crisis in Darfur region, Wednesday, April 16, 2007, during a tour of the exhibit at the museum in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP)

Ban and Konare said getting more peacekeepers to Darfur was part of "a two-track approach" being pursued alongside intensified efforts to work out a political settlement.

In Washington, Bush said he would give Ban time to pursue diplomatic efforts, but added that the U.S. could impose financial and other sanctions if al-Bashir did not move quickly. Bush did not say how long he would wait.

The secretary-general welcomed Bush's announcement and "is intensively working to expedite the political process and the hybrid operation for Darfur," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

The president also said he would direct Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to prepare a resolution for new U.N. sanctions targeting Sudan's government and people found to be violating human rights or obstructing peace.

The resolution would also call for an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibitions on Sudan's government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and a strengthening of the U.N. ability to monitor and report violations, Bush said.

The Security Council adopted a resolution in March 2005 authorizing an asset freeze and travel ban on four men accused of orchestrating killings and other abuses in Darfur _ a former air force commander, an Arab militia chief and two rebel commanders.

In London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said discussions on the new sanctions resolution would start Thursday.

"What is happening in Sudan at the moment is unacceptable, is appalling and is a scandal for the international community," Blair told reporters.

The African Union's peacekeeping force reported Wednesday that a spree of fighting earlier in the week had killed at least 62 people in the Abu Gorgah sector of North Darfur. It said 11 villages had been looted.

AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said the African Union "condemns this fighting and calls on tribal leaders to avoid any further killing and destruction."

The conflict began in early 2003 when ethnic African groups rebelled against the Arab-dominated national government, charging it discriminates in favor of the region's Arab tribes. Sudan's leaders deny charges that have encouraged and armed Arab militiamen blamed for attacks on civilians.

The confidential U.N. report on Sudanese military flights first appeared March 28 in London's Guardian newspaper and in Wednesday's New York Times, and was later obtained by The Associated Press.

The secretary-general expressed "deep concern" at the evidence presented to the Security Council about the flying of arms into Darfur, Montas said.

"He is especially troubled by reports that private or national aircraft have been illegally provided with U.N. markings and used for military purposes," she said.

She said such actions "would be in clear violation of international law and in contravention of the U.N.'s international status."