Washington - Preventing genocide must become a top priority for US president-elect Barack Obama, who should add millions of dollars to the federal budget dedicated to stopping mass killings around the world, a bipartisan report released Monday said.

The Genocide Prevention Task Force, led by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former secretary of defence William Cohen, said genocide prevention is vital to national security.

"We urge America's 44th president to demonstrate at the outset that preventing genocide and mass atrocities is a national priority. A new administration should develop and promulgate a government-wide policy to this end," the 109-page report said.

The report urged Congress to provide 250 million dollars for setting up a crisis prevention and response fund to rapidly address outbreaks of genocide and called for a White House Atrocities Prevention Committee.

Albright said taking a pro-active approach to prevent genocide would not leave countries in an "all or nothing" scenario after mass killings begin.

"There is a broad range of choices between standing aside and calling in the Marines," Albright said.

Albright noted that Obama has been more outspoken on the genocide, particularly in the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ethnic war in Darfur between government-backed Arab militias and African rebel groups has left more than 300,000 dead and more than 2.5 million refugees.

Fighting erupted between government forces and Tutsi rebels in Congo over the summer, displacing some 250,000 civilians.

The task force was sponsored by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the American Academy of Diplomacy and the United States Institute of Peace. (dpa)