On one thing, at least, the US and France are fully agreed: the world’s response to the mass murder in Darfur has been appalling. Speaking in Paris, Condoleezza Rice said that the international community had not “lived up to its responsibilities”. President Sarkozy was blunter: “Silence is killing.” The lack of decisiveness and action were unacceptable, he added. Indeed, they are. And Mr Sarkozy deserves credit, not only for recognising that France has, until now, been dragging its feet over Darfur, but for taking a lead in pressing for effective measures to halt the slaughter.

No one should need reminding of the scale of the atrocities: more than 200,000 people are estimated to have died in the vast region and it is thought that 2 million villagers have been made refugees, driven from their homes by the Arab militia known as the Janjawid. Huge numbers are corralled into makeshift camps in Chad, hungry, traumatised and dependent on humanitarian bodies. Tensions are growing, disease and violence endemic, and the disaster is threatening to destabilise Chad and the surrounding region.

Tony Blair has been among those pressing hardest for United Nations sanctions with bite. More importantly, however, he has also called for an effective international force to defend villagers against the marauding Janjawid and, after much argument, the UN has voted to bolster the ineffective African Union force of 7,000 men with a larger and better-trained contingent of UN peace-keepers. Sudan agreed on June 12 to accept deployment of this 20,000-strong force. Given its complicity in arming and directing the Janjawid and its mendacious public statements, however, few believe that Khartoum will cooperate.

France still retains considerable influence in sub-Saharan Africa, and Bernard Kouchner, the new Foreign Minister, is well placed to push for concerted action. He was the founder of Médecins sans Frontières, and has a strong commitment to bringing a moral dimension to French policy. By making Darfur an early focus of attention, President Sarkozy is sending out several important signals. The first is that he wants to put an end to the cynicism and cronyism that dominated much of France’s Africa policy under President Chirac, and is seeking the moral high ground rather than simply commercial or cultural advantage. This means, if necessary, taking the kind of tough, interventionist stance that, until now, was favoured only by the “Anglo-Saxons”. Secondly, Mr Sarkozy is telling Washington that he wants to work closely with the Bush Administration, especially in areas of common interest such as Africa and Lebanon, and is keen to underline their common values rather than differences over Iraq, Nato expansion or US support for Israel. And thirdly, France is ready to pay for its commitments: Mr Sarkozy has offered €10 million in extra funds to help the Africa force.

One key country still has to understand the need for a tougher stance. China, Sudan’s top oil customer and arms supplier, has consistently vetoed UN sanctions against Khartoum, and yesterday its special Sudan representative said that it was not the time to talk about further measures. He is wrong. China is already finding the campaign linking its stance to the Beijing Olympics very embarrassing. Like France, China must change course and use its leverage to compel Khartoum to halt behaviour that is criminal and cruel.