UNITED NATIONS, June 29: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on her first visit to the United Nations after becoming top US diplomat had reportedly told UN officials that expanding the Security Council should not override other UN reforms.

Ms Rice, who refused to take questions from the press following her meetings with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Jean Ping, called for closer US-UN consultations on Iraq and support for the African Union’s mission in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

According to a spokesman for the secretary-general, Mr Annan briefed Dr Rice on progress on UN reform ‘and stressed the need for agreement on a broad package’.

“The secretary-general also expressed concern about a recently adopted Congressional legislation,” the spokesman said, referring to the bill passed by the US House of Representatives that set conditions for withholding the US dues to the UN budget.

Mr Annan also described the work of the UN electoral and constitutional teams in Iraq.

“They agreed on the need to reach out to the Sunni community and that closer consultation between the United Nations and the United States would be useful and necessary,” the spokesman said.

The two agreed on the need to support the African Union’s (AU) peacekeeping mission in Darfur, including providing military support from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and the European Union (EU).

Militias linked to the government have been seen looting, pillaging and raping the people of Darfur, causing nearly two million to either flee to neighbouring Chad or to seek security as internally displaced people (IDPs).

Among other issues, Ms Rice and Mr Annan also talked about the work of the UN teams investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.