* Malawi says Africa consensus against charges
* Advocacy groups say more pressure on Sudan needed
By Missy Ryan
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The African Union urged the United Nations on Thursday to put war crime charges against Sudan's leader on hold, warning they could destabilize Africa's biggest nation and endanger an upcoming referendum on southern independence.
Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika urged the annual U.N. General Assembly to back a one-year deferral of the case against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charged with genocide and war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region.
"While efforts to secure lasting peace in Sudan are ongoing, the International Criminal Court seems to push for a 'pound of flesh'," said wa Mutharika, who chairs the AU.
"There is a general consensus in Africa that this will negatively polarize the different positions of stakeholders, thereby driving them away from a peaceful settlement."
The U.N. Security Council has the power to suspend ICC prosecutions under Article 16 of its statute but is deadlocked on whether to do so. Wa Mutharika urged the 192-nation General Assembly to amend the Rome Statute to give it the power to defer Bashir's case to avoid disrupting peace talks.
Renewed African backing for Bashir, who rejects the ICC charges that made him the world's only sitting leader wanted for war crimes, comes only a few months ahead of the Jan. 9 plebiscite that could bring independence for southern Sudan.
Foreign powers are stepping up pressure on Khartoum to hold the vote on time and follow through with a key point in the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.
There are growing concerns about whether poor Sudan can pull together the complex referendum on time and whether the high-stakes vote can be held without sparking new conflict.
MANY CARROTS, NOT ENOUGH STICKS?
Bashir's government has pledged it will respect the results of the vote but there are many unanswered questions, such as what the referendum will mean for oil-rich areas that lie in disputed areas along the north-south border.
U.S. President Barack Obama will take part in a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the General Assembly on Friday, a sign of renewed U.S. efforts to broker lasting peace in Sudan.
Washington is offering Sudan, under international sanctions since the mid-1990s, the possibility of improved U.S. ties if the referendum goes smoothly.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named Tanzania's former President Benjamin Mkapa to head a new U.N. panel set up to monitor the north-south referendum and another vote to determine the fate of the oil-rich region of Abyei.
But some advocacy groups worry about future conflict in Sudan, not only if southerners vote to secede as expected but as tensions persist in the troubled Darfur region.
U.N. officials say as many as 300,000 people have died and over 2.7 million have been driven from their homes in seven years of ethnic and politically motivated violence in Darfur. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.
John Prendergrast, head of advocacy group Enough, applauded the Obama administration for correcting what he called 'drift' in its Sudan policy, but said officials were dangling carrots to Bashir's government without enough stick.
U.S. officials "need to be clear there are consequences," Prendergast said, such as sanctions targeted against senior Sudanese officials and moves to tighten the arms embargo. (Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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