Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, will deliver the message when he arrives in Khartoum tonight for talks with the Sudanese leadership, which faces the threat of United Nations sanctions unless it takes steps to halt the 18-month emergency.

Mr Straw then heads for the troubled province tomorrow, to see for himself the plight of more than one million people driven from their homes by the government-backed Janjawid militia, a force drawn from the region’s Arab nomadic horsemen who are vying with African farmers for scarce natural resources.

On the eve of his mission, there were signs yesterday of a clear change in attitude by Khartoum. For the first time, Sudan signalled that it was finally willing to rein in its militia allies and punish those responsible for thousands of killings and widespread rape.

Reports from Khartoum said that a list of 30 suspects accused of war crimes was handed to Emanuael Akoy, the UN human rights observer, by Ali Mohammad Osman Yassin, the Sudanese Justice Minister. Among those on the list were two former policemen, accused of involvement in burning down a village in southern Darfur, and two reservist soldiers in the Popular Defence Forces, accused of raping two women refugees. Mr Yassin said: “The Government does not deny that human rights abuses occur and it will not protect those who commit them.”

He added that Sudan needed “help from international observers and voluntary organisations” and asked them to “pass on any information they have, particularly concerning rapes”.

As recently as Friday, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that most of the displaced people in the Masteri camp near the border with Chad were still being preyed on by the Janjawid, which in Arabic means devils on horseback.

“When they venture outside, they are regularly attacked by Janjawid militiamen,” the UNHCR said in a statement. One 43-year-old refugee said that she had been raped when she went out to look for food and firewood and that women were being attacked every day.

Nevertheless, Khartoum’s admission marked the first time that the authorities acknowledged that rapes have been committed by its allies and appears to show that months of outside pressure from the international community are beginning to pay off.

The coming week could be decisive. As Mr Straw shuttles in and out of talks in Khartoum over the next two days, peace negotiations are due to open in Nigeria between the Sudanese Government and rebel leaders from Darfur, whose insurgency triggered the government crackdown. Later in the week 150 Nigerian troops are scheduled to join a similar number of Rwandan soldiers in Darfur, adding muscle to an African monitoring force of 80 men.

The flurry of diplomatic activity, and Sudan’s sudden conciliatory attitude, is largely due to the UN deadline, which expires at the end of the month. Jan Pronk, the UN special envoy to Sudan, will make a preliminary report on the situation in Darfur tomorrow. Next week the Security Council will meet to decide what action to take after its 30-day ultimatum for Sudan to restore order in the province expires.

Although Britain insists that a foreign military intervention remains an option, it is not being considered seriously by any Western governments. British officials travelling with Mr Straw said that the Security Council could take a range of actions, including punishing Sudan with economic sanctions or giving Khartoum more time to resolve the crisis. One senior diplomat said that the “natural centre of gravity in the council is not the immediate imposition of heavy duty sanctions on Sudan” and that most members would probably favour a roll-over of the existing demands.

“Are the Government of Sudan doing enough? No, that is clear,” a Foreign and Commonwealth Office official said. “Are they doing more than they were? Yes, quite a bit more.” Mr Straw is expected to insist that Sudan allows full access by foreign aid agencies to Darfur, cracks down on human rights abuses, restores law and order in the province and pursues a political solution to the crisis. Britain, the second- largest donor to Sudan, stands ready to help with more aid, but believes that Sudan’s fellow African states could ultimately provide the solution to the problem in Darfur.

One proposal, which has support in Whitehall, envisages the deployment of a far larger African Union force to monitor a region the size of France. The Nigerians have signalled that they are willing to send more than 1,000 troops to the area. Additional forces could be sent from Tanzania and South Africa.

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