By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Reuters) - The United States and Britain considered on Tuesday expanding U.N. Security Council sanctions against Sudan, but China, Russia and South Africa were wary such action would stop violence in Darfur.

Although penalties, such as an international arms embargo, would have more impact than unilateral U.S. sanctions that President George W. Bush announced on Tuesday, U.N. bans against Sudan have been hard to enforce.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was cautious in predicting distribution of any Security Council sanctions resolution, saying no time had been set for its circulation.

"We will coordinate with our allies" and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he told reporters. Sudan was not discussed in Tuesday's council consultations but the United States and Britain have been drafting a resolution for weeks.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that Ban had been working with Sudan, and "there have been some positive developments."

He said a sanctions resolution "would be a departure between the secretary-general and the Security Council" who was now consulting with Sudan and organizing political talks.

The Security Council has imposed an arms embargo on rebels and militia but not on the government, although it forbid offensive military flights by Khartoum over Darfur. The council also put travel and financial sanctions on four people.

The United States and Britain are considering an arms embargo over the entire country, a cessation of all military flights over Darfur, monitors at Sudanese airports, and an expansions of the list of individuals under sanctions.

However, the council had never been unified on these measures, with Russia, China and others abstaining.

In Beijing on Tuesday, China's representative on African affairs, Liu Guijin, who has been acting as envoy on Darfur, said "pressure and sanctions" did not help resolve problems. "Expanding sanctions can only make the problem more difficult to resolve," Liu told a news conference.

And in New York, South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, also urged patience and asked what the strategy would be if sanctions were applied.

"Right now the surprising thing was that we were thinking the government of Sudan was now beginning to take the right actions and agree to what we were going to do," he said. "It's not clear which way we are going.

But Khalilzad said sanctions and diplomacy could work together to put pressure on Khartoum, the rebels and neighboring countries.

"My message to the Government of Sudan is that it is imperative they cooperate with the important benchmarks," such as ceasing all attacks, dismantling the Janjaweed militia, allowing uninterrupted humanitarian aid and agreeing on a large peacekeeping force, he said.

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir stalled for months in accepting U.N. peacekeeping support packages to the African Union of 7,000, a prelude to a large force of more than 23,000 troops and police. He received plans for that "hybrid" UN-AU force only last week but has said the numbers were too high.

Non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur four years ago, accusing the government of not heeding their plight. Khartoum then armed some Arab militia, known as Janjaweed, who raped, killed and pillaged.

In the last year Arab and non-Arab tribes have been fighting among themselves, shattering an earlier peace accord. The United Nations has also coordinated with the African Union to restart peace talks among at least a dozen rebel groups and the government.

AlertNet news is provided by