UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30: The UN Commission on Sudan has concluded that the government-supported violence in the western region of Darfur was not genocide, media reports here said on Sunday, quoting diplomats familiar with the report.

However, it asserts that there was evidence of crimes against humanity with an ethnic dimension. The UN report documents violations of international human rights law, incidents of war crimes by militias and the rebels fighting them, and names individuals who may have acted with a "genocidal intention."

But there was not sufficient evidence to indicate that Khartoum had a state policy intended to exterminate a particular racial or ethnic group, diplomats familiar with the report told one newspaper.

The former US Secretary of State Colin Powell had pronounced that the violent conflict in Darfur tant amounted to "genocide" and had demanded that UN Security Council impose sanctions on Sudan.

But China, Russia and other countries in the council opposed sanctions and called for a independent report on the situation in the country. The UN commission recommends referring the cases to the International Criminal Court, but leaves other options open.

The United States, which opposes the court, has proposed a war crimes tribunal in Tanzania to prosecute atrocities committed in Darfur. The Bush administration is weary of invoking the International Criminal Court to prosecute the perpetrators of violence because it fears that the court will be used for politicized prosecutions of Americans.

As an alternative, the US has proposed that the UN and the African Union establish a court in Arusha, Tanzania, the headquarters of the Rwanda tribunal, for the prosecution of Darfur's war crimes, US officials said.

The commission report was submitted on Thursday to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan by a five-member independent commission he assigned in October to investigate violations of human rights in Darfur, determine whether acts of genocide occurred and identify the perpetrators. It is not expected to be made public until Sudan has a chance to review the assessment, and until it has been presented to the Security Council, expected this week.

According to news reports the commission, headed by Antonio Cassese, an Italian judge, had to reconvene after the report was completed because of disagreements over whether to identify implicated government officials who may be in charge of implementing Sudan's new peace plan with its southern rebels, said diplomats familiar with the discussions.

Sudan's ambassador to Washington, Khidir Haroun Ahmed, said he understood that the names would not be disclosed until a court had concluded that there was evidence for prosecution.