The British Foreign Office said Friday that most Security Council members were against immediate tough sanctions on Sudan even if Khartoum fails to end ethnic violence in the western Darfur region by the UN deadline.

The Security Council on July 30 adopted a resolution urging the Sudanese government to disarm by the end of August the militias that have driven hundreds of thousands of black Africans from their villages in the west of the country, or to face possible sanctions if it fails to do so.

"There is a range of views in the Security Council, but the natural center of gravity is not the imposition of heavy duty sanctions on Sudan," a Foreign Office official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

However, the official said, although heave sanctions on Sudan were not likely, the Security Council members wanted to show that they were serious about getting Sudan to cooperate.

The official, who briefed reporters on Sudan before British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's trip to Sudan on next Monday, also told reporters that there would be "a consciousness that for the strength and health of the United Nations, it needs to follow up."

Options ranged from imposing a travel ban or asset freeze to more serious measures, such as a global arms or oil embargo, the official said.

On the role of African Union force that is now charged with protecting cease-fire monitors, the official told reporters that it would be impractical to expand the mandate of the African Union force into a wider peacekeeping role in Sudan.

A 15-month conflict in the Darfur region has killed an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people. About one million were forced out of their villages.

The Sudanese government has rejected allegations that its forces were linked with the militias known as Janjaweed.

Source: Xinhua