UNITED NATIONS – Sudan has taken full advantage of the fact that a long-awaited U.N. report on Darfur reached Khartoum before the Security Council members who had ordered the report had time to read it.

The report, prepared for Secretary-General Annan by a team headed by an Italian judge, Antonio Cassese, concluded that even though government backed militias in the region have committed crimes against humanity based on ethnic animosity, it does not amount to genocide.

According to a Los Angeles Times article over the weekend, a similar report, prepared by the Sudanese government itself, arrived at remarkably similar conclusions. Deflecting the blame to rebel groups, that report concluded that no state policy with the goal of eradicating a particular group existed.

“It sounds surprisingly similar,” said the Peace and Security Program Manager for the Washington-based advocacy group Citizens for Global Solution, Harpinder Athwal. “The Sudanese government is very keen to make sure that they recognize the atrocities that have gone on, but also are the ones taking charge in reacting to them.”

In New York, members of the council hesitated yesterday to comment on the report’s conclusions before it was officially circulated. But in Abuja, Nigeria, the site of an African summit, Sudan’s foreign minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, put the best face on the U.N. report that Mr. Annan delivered to Khartoum over the weekend.

“We have a copy of that report and they didn’t say that there is a genocide,” Mr. Ismail told reporters. Mr. Annan, who also attended the Abuja summit, said, “Regardless of how the commission describes what is going on in Darfur, there is no doubt that serious crimes have been committed.”

The report was ordered by the Security Council shortly after Secretary of State Powell declared last year that genocide took place in Darfur. Violations of the convention on genocide carry penalties, and the council called on Mr. Annan to investigate.

His conclusion began a predictable council debate on whether crimes in Darfur should be referred to the International Criminal Court, which is supported by the Europeans and Mr. Annan, and opposed by Washington. Washington wants to extend the mandate of the U.N. tribunal for war crimes in Rwanda to empower it to try crimes in Darfur as well.

“The important issue for us is accountability,” the acting ambassador to the U.N., Anne Patterson said yesterday. “There are various options on the table, probably some in addition to those contained in the secretary-general’s report.”

While the council prepares to debate the trial venue, the bloodshed in Darfur continues. Reacting to a separate report by Mr. Annan, which suggested deploying 10,130 troops in the region, Ms. Patterson said, “That’s certainly in the ballpark.” Right now there are a little more than 1,300 African Union observers on the ground.