UNITED NATIONS – American Ambassador John Bolton admitted yesterday that despite his best efforts, the U.N. Security Council was not likely to pass measures to stop the carnage in Darfur before the end of February. Secretary-General Annan, meanwhile, did not even discuss Sudan during a weekend visit to Qatar, whose U.N. ambassador is one of three council members blocking American-proposed measures.

Mr. Annan went as Qatar’s guest for a U.N.-related conference on an “alliance among civilizations” as Muslims riot against Western cartoons. He has recently chided America for not doing enough on Darfur, but declined to criticize Sudan’s allies. The issue of Sudan “did not come up” during his meetings in Doha, spokeswoman Marie Okabe, told The New York Sun yesterday.

American diplomats are disappointed that since joining the 15-member Security Council this year, with Washington’s backing, Qatar has followed a hard line when representing the Arab group. Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser has disagreed with America on several issues, most notably Sudan. Along with China and Russia, Qatar blocked proposals to impose sanctions on Sudanese officials and militia leaders singled out for punishment by a U.N. panel of experts.

Last year the panel, appointed by Mr. Annan at the council’s request, wrote a confidential report that identified 17 Sudanese as having impeded peace and committed crimes against humanity in Darfur. Upon assuming the rotating presidency for February, Mr. Bolton urged the council to pass a resolution by the end of the month, establishing a new U.N. force for Sudan and implementing past council sanctions threats.

In proposals circulated among members of the council, America urged sanctions on “the eight most obvious names” in the confidential report, according to a diplomat familiar with the proposal who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations.

Yesterday, however, Mr. Bolton said he no longer expected a resolution to pass during his stint as president. “Unless a number of countries changed their minds I don’t see that we’ll have a resolution” before early March, he told reporters. “We think that’s unfortunate, but it’s not because we didn’t try.”

If the council “isn’t willing to take steps to persuade people to follow what it says,” Mr. Bolton warned, “its credibility will decline.”

Russian Ambassador Andrey Denisov told the Sun he was concerned that sanctions imposed against senior Sudanese officials might upset the political balance and create more problems than it would solve. The unity government formed in Khartoum last year “should not be influenced by negative thoughts,” he said.

The Financial Times reported last week that among the 17 named by the U.N. experts are Sudan’s director of intelligence, Salah Abdalla Gosh, its interior minister, Elzubier Bashir Taha, and Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein. According to another leaked report, by the American Prospect, Sudan’s President al-Bashir, Chad’s President Deby, and three others were named as possible future targets for sanctions.