The United Nations Security Council has focused on the introduction of African Union troops as a way out of the Darfur crisis.
US Ambassador John Danforth, the most critical envoy of Khartoum on the council, said on Tuesday it was important to get as many African troops as possible in Darfur.
The council last month had threatened oil sanctions if Sudan did not take action to protect civilians. But Mr Danforth said: "I think right now we have to keep our eye on the ball," adding: "The focus now is on the African Union."
Mr Danforth spoke after the 15-member council was briefed by JMR an Pronk, the special UN envoy in Sudan, who drafted a report issued late on Monday under UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's name.
Mr Pronk told the council the Sudanese government had not improved security for African civilians in Darfur or prosecuted perpetrators of atrocities as the council had demanded.
He said the ceasefire between rebels and the government was broken constantly but that militia, allied with the government, caused most of the civilian deaths in early September.
Rebels began an uprising in Darfur in February 2003 after years of skirmishes between mainly African farmers and Arab nomads over land and water in an area as large as France.