LUNGI, Sierra Leone (AP) – Britain supports an American proposal to impose U.N. sanctions against the government of Sudan for its role in Darfur’s bloodshed, an official said Wednesday.

President Bush announced that America would draft the U.N. resolution on Tuesday, saying the Sudanese government has been complicit in atrocities against civilians and has been uncooperative with international efforts to end the Darfur crisis.

Britain “fully supports U.S. efforts to address the desperate situation in Darfur in the Security Council,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on condition of anonymity in line with British government policy.

“We hope that all members of the (U.N. Security Council) will work with the U.S. to create a resolution which will effectively address the challenges in Darfur,” he said.

The official spoke in Sierra Leone, where Blair was expected later Wednesday on a tour of Africa that started in Libya and ends later this week in South Africa. Aides said Blair’s agenda included trying to build support for action to stop the violence in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 2003.

The U.N. resolution would apply new international sanctions against the Sudanese government in Khartoum. It also would seek to impose an expanded embargo on arms sales to Sudan, prohibit Sudan’s government from conducting offensive military flights over Darfur and strengthen the American ability to monitor and report any violations.

Mr. Bush also announced new American sanctions against Sudan, targeting government-run companies involved in Sudan’s oil industry, and three individuals, including a rebel leader suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur.

The international sanctions resolution is expected to face a tough time in the Security Council because of the timing and long-standing opposition from China, which has business interests in Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he still needed more time to promote political negotiations and persuade the Sudanese government to accept more peacekeepers.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir agreed in November to a three-phase U.N. plan to strengthen the overstretched, 7,000-strong African Union force in Darfur.

After five months of stalling, he gave the go-ahead in April for the second phase, which calls for 3,000 U.N. troops, police and civilian personnel, along with equipment.

Over the weekend, however, al-Bashir reiterated his opposition to the deployment of a 22,000-member joint U.N.-AU force, saying he would only allow a larger African force with technical and logistical support from the United Nations.

After years of low-level skirmishes over water and other resources among Darfur’s tribes, the larger conflict erupted in 2003 when ethnic African tribesmen rebelled against what they considered decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated central government.

Sudanese leaders are accused of retaliating by unleashing Arab militia to put down the rebels and destroy any support they might have among African villagers. The government denies the charges.

The fighting has displaced 2.5 million people, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.