UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Security Council nations said that Sudan had to act quickly and rein in Arab militias behind the bloodshed in its strife-torn Darfur region. But they stopped short of fixing a deadline for Khartoum to honour pledges to disarm the so-called Janjaweed militias, accused of a brutal campaign that has left more than 10,000 dead and one million forced to flee their homes. "The Sudanese government doesn't have forever," Annan told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. "Serious crimes have been committed and there has been gross and systematic abuse of human rights. We, the international community, must intensify our efforts to protect the innocent in Darfur," he said. Annan said he did not want to set an "artificial deadline" for further international action if it was determined that Sudan had not kept its commitment to ease the crisis. He said any such date was "a judgment call." The United States said it would present a revised draft Security Council resolution on Thursday amid mounting international concern over what UN officials call the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the world. "It's the responsibility of the government of Sudan," US ambassador John Danforth said. "They've created this monster." On a visit earlier this month, Annan got Khartoum to agree to a series of steps, including immediately disarming the militias it is accused of supporting, and improving access for aid workers in the troubled region. Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, a council member which has been cool to the idea of pressing Khartoum's government, said he thought Sudan should be given enough time to show whether or not it would honour its word. Jan Pronk, Annan's new envoy for Darfur, briefed the Security Council on the "extremely complex" situation. **PHOTO CAPTION*** United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan speaks at a news conference at the United Nations in New York. (AFP)