United Nations ? A U.N. panel concluded that the Sudanese government and militias carried out mass killing and probably war crimes in the Darfur region, but stopped short of agreeing with a U.S. charge of genocide.

The commission urged that that suspects be tried before the International Criminal Court, accusing the government and militias, as well as rebels, of widespread abuses including torture, rape, killings of civilians and pillaging.

“The conclusion that no genocidal policy has been pursued and implemented in Darfur by the government authorities … should not be taken in any way as detracting from the gravity of the crimes perpetrated in the region,” the report said.

The United States has accused Sudan’s government of directing militia who attack civilians in what Washington has called a genocidal campaign in the western region.

The United Nations has called Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, saying the conflict between the government, rebels, and the government-backed Janjaweed militia has claimed 70,000 lives since March — mostly from disease and hunger. It now affects 2 million people, up from 1.8 million in September.

Sudan received an early copy of the report and said it refuted the U.S. contention of genocide.

“We have a copy of that report and they didn’t say that there is a genocide,” Sudan Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said on the sidelines of an African Union summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

The report on Darfur detailed a host of violations, including the government’s failure to protect civilians from rebel attack, use of disproportionate force and attacks meant to force people to flee their homes.

It blamed the government for joining in the attacks and for complicity with the Janjaweed militia, and also accused rebels of massive violence.

The panel said the government had not pursued a policy of genocide because there appeared to be no “genocidal intent” among government leaders — a push to exterminate an entire group for ethnic, religious or other reasons.

However, the panel did not rule out that a court could eventually find there may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent.