UNITED NATIONS — President Bashir of Sudan will be charged with committing genocide and crimes against humanity on Monday, U.N. diplomats say, predicting that the dramatic move is likely to complicate the situation in Darfur, where the United Nations is struggling to put a credible peacekeeping force on the ground.

The action by the prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is likely to chill relations between Khartoum and the United Nations. The mandate of the U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which runs out at the end of July, requires Sudanese consent. Several diplomats said yesterday that a criminal case would significantly complicate further troop deployment, and Sudanese officials said they would weigh “all options” in response to an indictment.

“Peace and justice should go hand in hand,” Secretary-General Ban said yesterday. “Justice can be a part of the peace process, but peace without justice cannot be sustainable.” He declined to comment directly on possible indictments before they are issued.

The permanent members of the U.N. Security Council met yesterday for an emergency closed-door discussion, and the council plans to debate the situation Friday. “Ocampo is an independent player,” a Western European diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said. “We are not going to withdraw our support of the court because it becomes inconvenient,” he added.

“Some information from the Hague” indicated that Mr. Bashir and Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha will be indicted, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, told reporters yesterday, adding that no official notification was received. “All options are open for us — all reactions are open,” he said.

The indictment will have “disastrous consequences over the overall situation in the country,” Mr. Mohamad said. “It will harden the position of the rebels,” he said, and asked: “Is the U.N. ready to deal with an indicted president?”

The ambassador said his government would not cooperate with the ICC if it indicts Mr. Bashir, and he appealed to the Security Council to intervene to stop Mr. Ocampo. “He is playing with fire,” Mr. Mohamad said.

Mr. Ocampo said in a statement yesterday that he would hand to ICC judges “evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years,” seeking to charge one or more individuals. He gave no further details, but several U.N. officials and diplomats confirmed that he would hand up one charge of genocide and three charges of crimes against humanity against Mr. Bashir.

Mr. Ocampo, an Argentinean jurist known for his sharp tongue, has compared the Bashir government’s actions in Darfur to those of the Nazis, and said he would move against the highest echelons of the Khartoum regime. The court has not charged a head of state since its establishment in July 2002.

Such an indictment “is a significant step,” the international justice director of Human Rights Watch, Richard Dicker, said. He added that he had no independent confirmation that charges would be issued against Mr. Bashir. If it happens, it is likely “to raise the profile of the ICC,” he said.

“This is a catastrophe,” a diplomat who served a long stint in Sudan said. The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Ocampo’s indictment would put U.N. troops, as well as the population of Darfur, in extreme danger from militia fighters, known as Janjaweed, and other government-backed forces.

Most Sudanese are convinced that a “Zionist-crusader cabal is conspiring against Sudan,” the diplomat said, expressing concern that indictments would “unleash” violence against all foreigners, including U.N. officials, as well as against defenseless villagers in Darfur.

America, which has not signed the treaty that established the ICC, the Rome Statute, has opposed the court, concerned that it could move against American citizens for political reasons. But recently the Bush administration quietly allowed the passage of a Security Council resolution that grants jurisdiction for the court to act in cases related to Darfur.

“We believe people should be held accountable for what is going on in Darfur,” a State Department official said yesterday.