Top Sudanese officials will soon face war crimes charges after the international prosecutor declared the “whole state apparatus” responsible for a campaign of rape and pillage in Darfur.

In a strongly worded speech, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court in the Hague, told the UN Security Council yesterday he would publicly name the alleged perpetrators when he seeks arrest warrants next month.

“The evidence shows that the commission of such crimes on such a scale, over a period of five years, and throughout Darfur, has required the sustained mobilisation of the entire Sudanese state apparatus,” he said.

The Argentinian-born prosecutor put the world on notice that the people of Darfur face utter destruction if the military campaign by Sudanese forces and Arab Janjaweed militia continued unchecked.

“There is no military justification for bombing schools, no legal excuse for raping women. Those crimes have been carefully prepared, and efficiently implemented. Those are not mistakes. Those are not inter-tribal clashes. Those are not cases of collateral damage. Those are, simply, criminal acts against civilians, unarmed civilians.

“Citizens of Sudan are being deliberately attacked by Sudanese officials...” he said. “Their own state is attacking them. If the international community does not protest the Darfuris, they will be eliminated.”

In an accompanying written report, he said there was “evidence of a criminal plan based on the mobilisation of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system.”

The International Criminal Court has already issued arrest warrants for one Sudanese minister and a leader of the Janjaweed militia who have forced some 2.5 million villagers from their homes in Darfur, leaving over 200,000 dead.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo complained that Sudan still refused to turn over Ahmad Harun, the indicted minister, and Janjaweed leader Ali Kushayb, even while it pledged cooperation with UN peacekeepers.

He said Mr Harun, who allegedly coordinated the Sudanese army and Janjaweed militia while serving as minister of state for the interior and head of the “Darfur security desk” in 2003 and 2004, was now obstructing UN work in his new role as humanitarian minister.

“The Sudanese government tolerates the firefighters and promotes the arsonists at the same time. The international community cannot ignore the arsonists. If they remain, there will never be enough firefights,” he said.

The Aegis Trust, a British charity, yesterday posted a 17-minute video on the Web of survivors describing Mr Harun’s role in attacks on the villages of Mukjar, Bindisi and Kodom. “I saw Ahmad Harun with my own eyes. He gave the money and gave orders,” one Mukjar survivor says. “He waved his fist and said, “Congratulations! Finish these people off.”

Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s report puts the UN in a quandary because it is relying on the co-operation of the Sudanese Government to deploy a peacekeeping force in Darfur and try to negotiate peace between the warring groups.

The prosecutor has been at odds with Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, who favours taking a less confrontational approach with Sudan.

His strong words came on the day a delegation of Security Council ambassadors met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum, after a short visit to Darfur.

In a statement issued after the meeting Mr al-Bashir attempted to defend his country's record, saying: “My country is the target of an unjust and deliberate campaign. This brutal campaign has tried to exaggerate and deform facts. It has tarnished the image, the heritage and the values of our people."

The Security Council delegation flew earlier to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur province, to see what it could do to bolster the UN peacekeeping force, which has just 9,000 of its planned 26,000 troops.

Sir John Sawers, Britain’s UN Ambassador, said Sudan had promised to allow Thai and Nepalese battalions to join the undermanned UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur after Ethiopian and Egyptian troops arrive. But the operation still lacks combat helicopters that could protect peacekeepers from attack.

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