The U.S. envoy to the United Nations accused Sudan on Thursday of "cavalier" violations of U.N. sanctions aimed at limiting the flow of arms and curbing violence in its conflict-torn Darfur region. "We know that weapons continue to flow into Darfur, acts of sexual and gender-based violence continue unabated and with impunity, military over-flights and offensive actions continue," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council. A 2005 U.N. embargo bans the transfer of military hardware to Darfur, a remote region in western Sudan about the size of France. Khartoum can import arms, but not for use in Darfur. "The blatant disregard of the will of the council is undermining stability rather than fostering it, which was the aim of the (sanctions) regime in the first place," Rice said. Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem told Reuters that Rice was "swimming against the current of objectivity and common sense." "What we expect of her is to reinforce the current peace process rather than unnecessary notions about the sanctions committee," he said. - Reuters