UNITED NATIONS, Sept 9 (AFP) - The UN Security Council emerged divided on Thursday over a proposed US resolution tightening the pressure on Sudan over Darfur, as the United States said it hoped for a vote as early as next week.
At a meeting of the 15-nation council, Russia, Pakistan and especially China voiced strong objections to the draft, which hangs the threat of sanctions over Sudan, diplomats who attended the session told AFP.
US ambassador John Danforth said the goal was to end the bloodshed in Darfur, where as many as 50,000 black Africans have been killed by marauding Arab militias backed by the Arab-led government, as soon as possible.
"It`s been an all-out attack on civilians," Danforth told reporters after the meeting. "My hope is that we`ll pass a resolution next week. I think time is of the essence, and I think every day counts."
Washington has been piling pressure on the government in Khartoum, which is accused of arming and backing the militias, known as Janjaweed, that have rampaged through Sudan`s western Darfur region.
The resolution, like a similar measure passed on July 30, demands that Khartoum disarm and rein in the Janjaweed and take other steps to end the violence or face international sanctions.
Speaking to the US Congress earlier on Thursday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said the killing amounted to genocide.
Reports of widespread rape, villages burnt to the ground and other atrocities by the militias have drawn international concern -- but also disagreement over how to get Sudan to stop the violence.
The US draft specifically mentions the possibility of sanctions against Sudan`s oil industry, and one concern among council members is that the resolution could automatically slap them on Khartoum if it does not comply.
"There`s a lot of work to do. Several delegations do not want sanctions," said Ambassador Abdallah Baali of Algeria, the lone Arab member of the Security Council.
The militias were originally enlisted to help put down an uprising by rebels that erupted in February 2003, and Sudan on Thursday again insisted that the Darfur question was an "internal" matter.
"The conflict in Sudan is an internal tribal problem and it will be for the national government to solve this problem," Sudanese Finance Minister Ahmed Hassan al-Zubeir told AFP at an African Union (AU) summit in Burkina Faso.
US ambassador Danforth stressed that the resolution would expand the currently small number of AU monitors already on the ground monitoring a fragile ceasefire with the rebels put in place in April.
"The immediate objective of getting the African Union in place in sufficient numbers in Darfur is what requires emphasis," he said, but added that the threat of sanctions was key to pressing Khartoum to act.
"The government of Sudan is not going to respond if there`s no pressure," Danforth said. "That possibility must be out there."
He also scoffed at the notion that China`s objections to the resolution could lead Beijing to use its veto power on the council to block the measure.
"If anybody wants to take that responsibility -- just stepping back and letting people die and be shot down by helicopters and raped -- I don`t see how that can be explained," he said.
French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said he also wanted a vote next week, stressing that the council needed to take action quickly and calling the US draft a "good basis" for further discussions.
"The council has to keep some pressure on the government of Sudan," de La Sabliere said, expressing hope for "a resolution that would be adopted by a large majority."