The "whole state apparatus" of Sudan is implicated in crimes against humanity in Darfur, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo's report into the crisis in western Sudan, due on Thursday, coincides with a visit to the region by the UN Security Council.
Sudan's ambassador to the UN said the comments were "fictitious and vicious" and harmful to the prospects of peace.
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"We really have to see how the people of Darfur live," said South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo.
The delegation is due to meet some of the two million Darfuris who have fled their homes, as well as local officials and members of the under-strength UN-African Union peacekeeping force.
In the report on the situation in Sudan, to be delivered to the remaining members of the UN Security Council in New York, Mr Moreno-Ocampo repeats his earlier call for the council to demand that Sudan hand over two men who face charges of crimes against humanity.
Time for sanctions
The treaty that created the International Criminal Court (ICC) was intended to hold individuals, not entire states, responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
By accusing Sudan's "whole state apparatus" of helping shield criminals, correspondents say, the prosecutor is implicating some of the highest officials of the government but he does not name any individuals.
He says the armed forces, intelligence services and the justice system worked together in Darfur, where at least 200,000 people have died in the five-year conflict.
The Sudanese ambassador to the UN responded angrily that his country would not bend to the will of the ICC.
"We will never submit any of our citizens to be tried in The Hague," Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed said.
"Ocampo is destroying the peace process and we demand that this man be held accountable for what he is doing to the peace process in Sudan."
Sudan has always denied charges that it organised the Janjaweed militias to take revenge on Darfuri civilians, after black African rebels took up arms in 2003.
But Mr Moreno-Ocampo says the pro-government Arab militias are still targeting the black African population, who are being bombed, tortured, killed and raped.
He again demands that Sudan hand over Ali Kushayb, a leader of the Janjaweed militia, and Ahmad Harun, Sudan's current Humanitarian Affairs Minister.
They are charged with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including acts of murder, persecution, torture, rape and forcible displacement.
The Aegis Trust campaign group has released a film in which eye-witnesses accuse both men of direct involvement in the killing of civilians.
"I saw Ali Kushayb shooting people - He killed my father," one woman says.
Both men have denied involvement in war crimes.
Aegis Trust head Dr James Smith said the time had come for the Security Council to increase the pressure.
"It is time the Security Council placed targeted sanctions - travel bans at least - on those in Sudan who harbour those wanted for war crimes."
France's ambassador to the UN, Jean-Maurice Ripert, who is taking part in the visit to Africa's trouble spots, said Europe would be willing to penalise Sudan if it did not cooperate with the ICC.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo report states that the ICC is proceeding with two new investigations - one involving government activities in Darfur and the other related to attacks on peacekeepers and aid workers.
He said this included the Darfur rebels alleged to have been responsible for the killing of African Union peacekeepers in Haskanita last year.
(BBC)
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