The decades-long conflict in Sudan's Darfur region has its roots in constant neglect and tensions between sedentary farming communities and nomads. These have been compounded by a local drought and desertification, an expanding population and the manipulation of ethnic rivalry.
Ironically, the main grievances - most notably competition for land and resources - are common to all of Darfur's seven million inhabitants but have been exploited in a "divide and rule" tactic that pits one tribal group against another, observers say. The result has seen an escalation of fighting since early 2003, leaving thousands of Sudanese dead, and hundreds of thousands displaced. 
Occurring within a vast region of northwestern Sudan, the conflict belies the popular myth that the country is divided along ethnic lines, between an Arab Muslim north and a Christian or animist, black south. In Darfur, where the vast majority of people are Muslims and Arabic-speaking, the distinction between 'Arab' and 'African' is more cultural than racial.
Regional analysts say this raises fundamental questions about the country's ongoing bilateral peace process, by exposing the imbalance of negotiations that include only one of Sudan's rebel groups - the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) - and only three of its so-called "marginalised areas" - the Nuba mountains, Abyei and Southern Blue Nile. 
"You can't implement a peace agreement in the midst of civil war," warned a western diplomat. 

Use of militias 

Armed raids on rich agricultural areas of Darfur have historically been part of the way of life for the region's Arab nomadic herders. 
The minority Arabs engaged in low level skirmishes with sedentary farmers until the 1970s. But since the mid-1980s, following a prolonged drought in 1983, skirmishes with subsistence farmers developed into larger-scale battles as the nomads were pushed further south. 
At the same time, successive northern governments began using Arab militias to crush rising dissent in the region, including an SPLA-led rebellion in 1991-1992. Analysts say this gave the Arab nomads leverage with the government, which rewarded them with local administrative positions, financial gains and arms, at the expense of the "African" tribes.
"Government policies were instrumental in transforming 'traditional' tribal conflict over access to receding grazing land and water into a new type of conflict driven by a broader ethnic agenda," says the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank. 
The fiercely independent Fur - who had ruled the independent sultanate of Darfur (which means homeland of the Fur) until 1916 - along with the Zaghawa, Massalit and other tribes rebelled.
The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) rebels emerged in February 2003 as a response to years of government-sanctioned attacks, unpopular central governance, lack of development in the region, and an ever more precarious existence, say analysts. 
Calling for a "united, democratic Sudan", greater political autonomy and a greater share of resources, the rebels asked the people of Darfur "of Arab background" to join with non-Arabised indigenous forces in the struggle against Khartoum.

Security-driven response 

The government, which views the insurgency as a security threat, has called on Darfur's tribes to "defend" their homes and property, and support the government's attempt to fight the rebels, the national Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, Dr Sulaf El Din, told IRIN. "Some are coming forward and some are not. This does not mean that the government is biased against one group."
As a result, a militia known as the Janjaweed was formed, comprising Sudanese and Chadian horse and camel-riding Arab nomads, opportunists and "criminals", regional analysts said. The Janjaweed are held responsible for much of the devastation in Darfur and have allegedly been given support by the government. Khartoum strongly denies the accusations. 
"First the soldiers arrived and started shooting and burning people's homes, then the Janjaweed came to kill and loot everything," said a displaced man outside Nyala in southern Darfur.
A tribal leader in western Darfur told IRIN the army used to attack villages just before the militias to lay the groundwork and confiscate people's weapons. "But now the militias have been given access to good arms, they are better than the army's," he claims.
"The Janjaweed are fighting for land and they have found that they can fight this with the government's resources, the whole country's resources. It's a chance they never dreamed of," a Darfur member of parliament told IRIN.
Hundreds of villages and neighbouring farmland have been completely destroyed. Food prices in western Darfur have increased dramatically from 1,800 Sudanese dinars to 7,000 for a bag of millet, while commercial traffic has all but stopped. Livestock have decreased in value as locals desperately try to sell off their cattle before they are looted. 

Political solution to a political problem 

The government says it is trying to contain the violence and insists that the conflict is "local", resulting from arms flowing into the region from Chad and Libya. 
"There is no rebellion in Darfur, just a local conflict among specific tribes," Information Minister Dr Al Zhawi Ibrahim Malik told IRIN. "The government has not armed the militias."
He attributed the reports on militia atrocities to propaganda and exaggeration. "Those with their own agendas are trying to give a very sad view of what is happening," he said. "The propaganda in the west is trying to exaggerate what is taking place in Darfur."
Observers note that the government has taken some positive steps to stem the crisis in recent weeks. 
Extra resources are being set aside for Darfur, in an apparent recognition of problems associated with the lack of development. Peace conferences are being organised, and some of the Janjaweed have been recruited into the Popular Defence Forces (government paramilitary units) and border intelligence units in an attempt to give them a new role.
But regional analysts say the essentially political nature of the conflict is not being addressed sufficiently. A western diplomat described the security-driven response to date as being "devoid of political or social dimensions".
Another diplomat said there were "no signs of the government ceding power to Darfur". "Khartoum perceives that it has already made enough concessions to the southern SPLA, so it is determined not to lose more to its northern constituency," he commented.
Only a handful of aid agencies have been allowed to operate in the region. Humanitarian sources said a "lack of transparency" regarding security information had led to travel permits being withheld for weeks. This had prevented badly-needed aid from reaching both rebel-held and government areas. 

Cease fire hopes 

Meanwhile, neighbouring Chad has been brokering talks aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement to the conflict. 
But a nominal ceasefire agreement with the SLA which lasted for three months - from September to December - was accompanied by a massive escalation in militia attacks. 
Darfur MPs told IRIN the peace process - which broke down in December amid mutual recriminations - was "a waste of time". Darfur's second rebel group, the Islamist Justice and Equality Movement - a breakaway group from the SLA - had been excluded from talks, they said, while the ceasefire was not even respected.
Both rebel groups, which are unhappy with Chad's mediation, have said the inclusion of international monitors is a precondition to further negotiations. But Khartoum has so far refused to allow the international community to observe the talks, resulting in a deadlock.
"Chad alone cannot broker peace - it is also affected by this war. Tribes from Chad are fighting in Sudan and they are affected politically so it cannot act independently," one Darfur MP said. 
Chadian President Idris Deby is himself a Zaghawa, but remains friendly with Khartoum. 
"I formally reject these allegations that Chad might be involved in the destabilisation of Sudan," he told Chadian radio. "We have the best possible relations between our states, and between President Omar al-Bashir and myself."
According to the ICG, Deby dedicated about 2,000 troops to take part in joint operations against the SLA. He also reportedly deported about 35 Darfur intellectuals who arrived in Chad in October to advise the politically inexperienced SLA during ceasefire negotiations.

The way for ward 

In the absence of a ceasefire, opinions are varied about the way out of this conflict. Observers say immediate efforts must be made to rein in the attackers. "The government must acknowledge the failure of its past policies, protect its civilians, stabilise the region, and then work towards an equitable political solution with all of Darfur's tribes," one observer said.
The UN has called for an internationally monitored "humanitarian ceasefire" that would automatically lead to more international aid, a larger international presence on the ground,  less insecurity, and space for further talks. 
A growing number of voices including the SLA say Darfur should be discussed as part of the wider Sudanese peace process. "There has to be a peace settlement in Darfur before signing a comprehensive agreement [with the SPLA]," said one Darfur MP. "It has to be treated equally with the rest of the marginalised areas. If they are given their autonomy, then it also has to be done to Darfur."
But others say this would hold up the Kenya talks with the SPLA unnecessarily, and be viewed as a "reward" for armed insurrection.
In the long-term, observers say, the peace process - brokered by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) - will probably help to address Darfur's political grievances, by automatically leading to federalism, more development, wider participation in the political arena and access to resources. 
The blueprints for the disputed areas of the Nuba mountains, Abyei and southern Blue Nile will likely serve to deal with the Darfur situation. SPLA leader John Garang has also warned that as a governing side during the interim period, it will not be a party to repression in the region. 
But while the debate continues, people continue to die. 
Even now, with 25,000 people forced to flee in December alone into neighbouring Chad, Darfur is receiving relatively little international attention.
One donor described reaction to the conflict as a "collectively mishandled crisis".
A combination of a lack of accurate information on the conflict, exacerbated by few aid agencies being able to work on the ground and little media coverage have meant that the conflict has not received the attention it deserves, he said.
"Humanitarians' reluctance to threaten the wider peace process, and an emphasis on post-conflict planning and development, have also hindered a quick response," he added. "We could have done better, if we had kept it on the agenda."

Eritrea has rejected accusations that it is destabilising the Horn region as empty claims, saying history shows who the aggressor is. 
On Monday, the leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen - who held a two-day summit in Addis Ababa - accused the small Red Sea state of fuelling regional instability. 
"When we talk about dialogue in the sub-region we mean Eritrea should act positively with the neighbours to achieve a final good neighbourly relationship between the states," Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir told a press conference. "It is not a secret that Eritrea is exerting huge efforts to create instability in Sudan." 
And Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Eritrea "has problems with many of its neighbours", although he denied that the three countries were conspiring against Asmara. 
But Yemane Gebremeskel, who heads the office of Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki, said history showed that Ethiopia was the destabilising factor in the region. 
"The facts tell the story," he told IRIN on Tuesday. "It is Ethiopia which annexed Eritrea, it is Ethiopia which does not accept international law. It is not Eritrea which started the war. History is clear - you cannot accuse the victim." 
Tension has been steadily mounting between the two sides over Ethiopia's refusal to accept an international ruling on where their frontier should run following a bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000. 
Yemane also dismissed Sudan's claims, accusing Khartoum of a "public policy of exporting fundamentalism". He rejected Bashir's specific accusations that Eritrea was helping rebels in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan, saying these were a "lame excuse to make hostile comments". "We are not involved," he told IRIN. 
The three leaders said their alliance was open to all Horn countries, particularly Eritrea. 
"Eritrea is not such a colossus of a security threat to require the conspiracy of all three countries to manage it," Meles said. "This forum is open to anyone who wants to join it, including and most particularly Eritrea." 
But Yemane said this was a "gimmick". "We do not need that alliance," he said. "We already have regional groupings such as IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development]."

Just about everyone in Yei, a sprawling rural town in southwestern Sudan, is talking about prospects for peace these days. You can scarcely walk through the town's bombed-out streets without overhearing vendors, for example, discussing their hopes for an agreement at ongoing peace talks in Nairobi, Kenya, between representatives of Sudan's government and rebels.
"We are really so happy about this peace deal," says Johnson Okut, who sells grilled cassava at a roadside stall. "If there's a final agreement I will be able to go back to my homeland in Bahr al Ghazal for the first time in 20 years. I'm ready to go; I'm just waiting for them to finish this thing."
If all goes to plan Okut and the more than 4.5 million other Sudanese displaced by Africa's longest running civil war (including 570,000 refugees) could be about to get the peace and stability which some of them have been dreaming about for nearly 50 years. The war between Sudan's military regime and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) has cost an estimated two million lives and plunged the bulk of the country's 38 million inhabitants below the poverty line.
If a hoped-for deal between president Umar al-Bashir and SPLA leader Dr John Garang is concluded, Sudan stands its best chance of becoming a stable nation since independence from Anglo-Egyptian rule in 1956. The picture is fragile - not least because of insecurity in western Sudan's Darfur province, currently the biggest threat to the vision of a peaceful Sudan. Nevertheless, for the first time in 20 years, Sudanese are talking about lasting peace as something possible.

Timid Hope 

Despite the general optimism, the mood in south Sudan is not euphoric. It is much more sober - the mood of a people who are tired of war yet uncertain about peace and, even if they get that, faced with the tall order of rebuilding a devastated country.
Natalino Losuba Mana, a southerner who runs the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) operation in Yei county, says the Sudanese will be waiting to see concrete results from the peace deal. "No one is celebrating yet," he says. "We'll wait to see these promises of peace fulfilled rather than living on hope. We still fear they will make a very good agreement that will never get beyond the paper."
If the deal does make it beyond the paper, it will in principle release some US$200 million from the United States for reconstruction. Other donors are also likely to contribute. But it is not yet clear how the money is to be spent, nor is it clear how much it will cost to rehabilitate the south - which, neglected under colonial rule and at war for most of the time since, has suffered underdevelopment for over 100 years.
According to Dr George Leju Lugor, senior development officer for the non-governmental Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the south, "even in the event of peace, the people here are visibly traumatised by the war. And after all the signing and celebrating the new deal, now for the hard part: the challenge of starting development. We have somehow to rebuild ordinary life".
Perhaps the most daunting aspect of that challenge is that few people have an ordinary life left to go back to.
"I fear our next war will be against redundancy," says Lugor, "the hard part is finding things that can give the southern Sudanese a living. We are talking about hundreds or thousands of us who joined the struggle and have only known war. They don't know what else to do."
In Yei, a town with a population swollen by the displaced to around 70,000 people, that redundancy is visible. Hundreds of bored-looking youths take shade under the rows of mango and palm nut trees. What makes it all the more frustrating, say stakeholders, is that the area has such potential. Lush and well watered, Yei's fertile land could become the bread basket of Sudan if it is developed, some people say.
But reaching that stage means reversing the near total devastation of the south's economy. "People in these areas have got used to living on their basic coping mechanisms, doing the bare minimum to survive," says Mac Maika, NPA coordinator for Yei and Juba counties. "That's the trauma of war: there is no point in producing an excess for trade because tomorrow you might be fleeing again".

Developing the land 

The NPA - ever keen to distance itself from what World Food Programme (WPF) boss James Morris calls the "quick fix, band aid mentality" - has already invested a lot in improving food production skills with long-term agricultural training programmes. Ladis-Laus Ongaro, an agriculturalist working on a training project with NPA for farmers in Yei, says the biggest challenge is finding a market for farmers' goods.
"There are a number of farmers producing a surplus in this part of the south. They are looking for a market but can't find one because of all the insecurity and poor infrastructure", he says, "they urgently need a reliable trading structure - obviously they will only be persuaded to grow an excess if it fetches money".
Ultimately, development workers say, southern Sudan will only become self-sufficient in food production and distribution if key features of its infrastructure are repaired. Top of the list are the country's transport links.

Road, blocks to growth 

A frequently made complaint of the southern Sudanese about the neglect of their region is the state of the roads. Poorly built and un-maintained, they are regarded as one of the biggest impediments to reviving the region's economy. The road from the Ugandan border to Yei, for example, covers a stretch of barely 80 km, yet the journey takes over three hours in a sturdy Toyota land cruiser.
"This stretch of the road we call the 'disco sections' ", quips an NPA driver, as his vehicle judders along the appalling dirt track linking Yei with Uganda's West Nile district. "We call them that because they force everyone in the car to dance along with the bumps".
Yet the impact of southern Sudan's bumpy roads on its struggling economy is no joke. It cuts the area off from valuable trade with other regions and countries, as would-be freighters focus on easier, more profitable routes. This renders the few goods that do pass into south Sudan from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia or the Democratic Republic of the Congo extremely expensive. "Any truck drivers or cross-border traders are going to be asking themselves: Do I bother driving goods into Sudan, where I waste so much time and my vehicle gets damaged?" Maika says.
Projects for grading roads are underway, however, and international organisations operating in the county say the time it takes to travel from the Ugandan border to Yei town, for instance, has already been cut by almost half (it apparently used to take five hours) because a section of the route was recently overhauled.

Education, please 

But more than the roads, the south Sudanese complain about education. They often talk of having been deprived of the education which, they say, people in other African nations have enjoyed. They also describe a feeling of being disconnected from the wider world, partly because of the lack of education but also because of an absence of information media tailored to southern Sudanese. 
Many southern Sudanese, of all ages, are keen to return to studies as soon as things settle down. Ely Dada, a part-time casual security guard for senior SPLM figures, says he urgently wants to go back to school. "We have lost a lot in terms of education from this war. Schools closed and some of us dropped out to join the struggle - I dropped out of senior 1 in 1982. For me that is the most significant thing about this peace deal - it means that we can now start our education all over again", he says.
But Paul Mac, the SPLA commander who controls Yei and Juba counties in the extreme south of Sudan, claims that the SPLM are addressing the urgent need for more schools in southern Sudan. "In Yei county alone we now have five primary and two secondary schools governed by SPLM using the Ugandan English-speaking curriculum. Before the SPLA took the town in 1997, there were no schools - so you can see the progress slowly being made. We are just awaiting funding to build more when the deal is signed".
Much will depend on just how generous that funding turns out be. If 
substantial development money is released on the back of the peace deal, schools could for the first time be part of ordinary life in south Sudan. 

Self determination 

For many of the south Sudanese, the solution to decades of neglect is clear: they want the right to determine how their area is to be built and run, something to which the Khartoum government has agreed in principle at the peace talks.
Silvanos Yokosu, journalist for the Sudan Mirror, a newspaper in southern Sudan, feels many southerners are likely to want a separate state.
However, none of the people IRIN interviewed in Yei dismissed the idea of a united Sudan after a six-year interim period after which, under the terms of the draft peace accord being hammered out in Nairobi, the relationship between the south and the north is to be decided by referendum. 
What does the future hold? No one knows but many are guardedly hopeful. "It is always possible this war could end in a happy marriage," says Yokosu, "but that will require a big change in attitude - on both sides".
(This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

The leaders of Ethiopia, Sudan and Yemen formed an anti-terror axis on Monday in the fight against extremists operating in the Horn of Africa. 
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced the pact as the three countries attempt to shed their image as a haven for Islamic militants. 
They will share information and experience in fighting terrorists in a bid to boost efforts to hunt down suspected al-Qaeda members or supporters in the Horn, the leaders said. 
Meles said security forces and intelligence services had already spent the last year working together to foil terrorists planning potential attacks. 
"Our cooperation has focused on exchange of information with regard to terrorists operating in either one of these three countries or in the region as a whole," Meles told a press conference in Addis Ababa. 
"This is progressing very well," he added. 
His comments came as the three countries signed a tripartite treaty focused on boosting economic, political and security cooperation. 
Sudanese President Omar Hasan al-Bashir and his Yemeni counterpart Ali Abdallah Saleh were in the Ethiopian capital for the day-long summit. The nations agreed to set up the new pact in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in October last year. 
Among groups the three countries will target is the Somali extremist group Al Ittihad which has been linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. 
Al Ittihad, which operates from Somalia, was placed on the US list of terrorist groups after the September 11 attacks. It has been accused of harbouring al-Qaeda terrorists who fled Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban. 
"They are and continue to be a threat," said Meles, adding that the fight against extremists would form part of the global war on terror. 
The Sudanese president told journalists that he expected peace talks between government and rebel forces being held in Kenya to come to an end in a week. 
He said the final sticking points of distribution of political power and wealth and the status of three disputed regions would be overcome. 
Sudan and Ethiopia also accused Eritrea of "destabilising" the Horn of Africa, but said they would welcome Eritrea as a member of their alliance. 
"It is not a secret that Eritrea is creating huge efforts to create instability in Sudan," Bashir claimed at the press conference. 
Yemen and Eritrea have also faced problems over ownership of a group of islands in the Red Sea, known as the Hanish. 
Eritrea has described the alliance as an "axis of belligerence" and accused the countries of conspiring against the tiny Red Sea state. 

Over 600 Sudanese soldiers and pro-government militias have reportedly been killed by rebels in Darfur (western Sudan) during a two-day battle, JEM (Justice and Equality Movement), one of the two groups that rose up in arms against the central government of Khartoum in February 2003, has said. The rebels say they carried out a joint operation with the other warring faction, SLA-M (Sudan’s Liberation Army-Movement), ambushing between 4,500 and 5,000 soldiers and pro-government militias bound for the city of Tina, one of the strongholds of the insurgents situated on the border with Chad. The clash reportedly began on 25 December near the city of Kulbus, 120 kilometres north of Geneina, capital of the Darfur region. JEM says 621 government soldiers and 27 rebels died in the violence. On Friday military sources confirmed that soldiers engaged in repelling an attack by “bandits” had been killed and injured, but they did not give details of the casualties. The collapse of talks between the two rebel formations and the Khartoum authorities in Chad ten days ago led to fears that clashes would intensify. The remote Darfur region on the border with Chad has been the scene of forays by gangs of Islamic predators for years. The situation has deteriorated since the start of 2003, with the launch of a formal insurrection by SLA-M – subsequently joined by JEM - against Khartoum. According to the United Nations, at least 7,000 people (out of six million inhabitants in the region, representing one fifth of the population of Sudan) have been killed in this isolated region since the start of 2003, while around 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes.[

The medical relief organisation MSF (Medécins sans Frontières) has warned of a fresh outbreak of Kala-azar in Latjor State, Upper Nile, in South Sudan. In a statement released earlier today, the international organisation said that the identification of increasing numbers of cases of the deadly parasitic disease over the last week points to a “very threatening” epidemic in a population with little acquired resistance to Kala-azar. "The fact that all age groups and both sexes are affected, and that these people have not travelled in from elsewhere indicates an epidemic outbreak", says Kees Keus, MSF's health advisor for Sudan, in the communiqué. "We know from our experience in other places how devastating this can be. It is vital that we quickly discover the extent of the problem in this area." MSF says it established a clinic in the small town of Bimbim a few days ago and already has 150 patients under treatment for Kala-azar. Twenty more reportedly arrive every day. Most of the people reported that they had already lost at least one family member to the disease. There are also reports of similar patterns of disease in the towns of Kechkoun and Nassir, in the same region. Kala-Azar is transmitted by the sandfly and weakens the immune system; most victims die of common infections such as pneumonia or diarrhoea. There is no vaccine against the disease, although it can be treated with intravenous drugs and intensive feeding for a month. Severe malnutrition due to food shortages and massive population movements in the region – both the consequence of a 20-year civil war - have all served to make the local population particularly susceptible to infection. MSF is calling on international agencies to take urgent action to help locate, assess and treat people affected by the disease, which reportedly claimed an estimated 100,000 lives in southern Sudan between 1985 and 1993

The Sudanese authorities have imposed a curfew in the city of Geneina after the final round of peace talks with the rebellion active in Darfur (western Sudan, near the border with Chad) collapsed last week. The news comes from local press sources, which say residents in the main city in the State of West Darfur are banned from the streets from 21.00 to 07.00. The latest curfew follows similar measures imposed in the other two States that make up the region, North Darfur and South Darfur, a few days ago. Meanwhile, according to the British broadcaster ‘BBC’, aid workers still operating in the region are preparing for the worst. United Nations (UN) and ‘Medair’ (a Swiss non-governmental organisation) started pulling their staff out of West Darfur and the city of Geneina a few days ago due to the lack of security in large parts of the region and fears of fresh violence following the collapse of talks. Since the start of 2003, the situation in the remote western region of Sudan has gone from bad to worse. SLA-M (Sudan’s Liberation Army-Movement) – a self-defence movement created by the population in Darfur in 2001 to protect themselves from attacks by gangs of Islamic predators – formally took up arms against the Khartoum authorities, whom they accuse of failing to offer adequate protection to the local population and of backing the Arab militias that afflict the area, in February of this year. Reports of violence, fighting between the parties and air raids by the Sudanese aviation emerge from this semi-desert region daily. The UN claims that at least 7,000 people have been killed since the start of 2002, while around 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes.[LC

There is growing evidence that kala-azar, a deadly parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of the sand fly, is spreading at alarming rate in southern Sudan threatening thousands of already-vulnerable people, the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres warned on Monday. 
In a statement, it said it had noted a rapid increase in the number of people suffering from the deadly parasitic disease in Latjor, a state in the Upper Nile of region of south Sudan, suggesting a new epidemic in the region. 
The medical relief agency said that within a week of setting up a clinic in the small town of Bimbim, it had admitted 150 kala-azar patients. "Twenty more arrive every day," the statement said. "Most of the people reported that they had already lost at least one family member to the disease." 
Kees Keus, MSF's health advisor for Sudan, said this pattern pointed to a new epidemic among a population which had acquired little resistance to the disease. "The fact that all age groups and both sexes are affected, and that these people have not travelled in from elsewhere, indicates an epidemic outbreak," Keus noted. 
Similar alarming reports had also been noted in nearby Kechkoun, where 145 patients were under treatment. Unconfirmed reports also indicated that there could even be more cases in the much larger town of Nassir, which is some 12 hours walk from Bimbim, MSF said. 
"We know from our experience in other places how devastating this can be. It is vital that we quickly discover the extent of the problem in this area," Keus stressed. 
MSF has called for a "concerted response" to what it said appeared to be "a very threatening outbreak". 
"There are very few medical facilities in Latjor state and the Upper Nile region has suffered from high rates of malnutrition throughout the year," the statement noted.

The Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) organisation has launched an assessment into the extent of the minefields created by both sides during Sudan's 20-year conflict with a view to starting a comprehensive clean-up programme after the peace deal is signed.
Mach Maika, NPA coordinator for Yei and Juba counties in the extreme south of the country, told IRIN: "This is the first time NPA is involved in demining. It will be the first comprehensive demining programme for the region to be launched since the war started."
The programme is to be launched in cooperation with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Operation Save Innocent Lives (OSIL) - a local NGO formed after the SPLM guerrillas captured Yei town in 1997.
But it is as yet unclear how such a programme will be funded.
"As it stands we don't have funding for a systematic programme of mine elimination - we do things on immediate requests," Felix Yugga of OSIL told IRIN. "This is a hard thing. It costs up to US$1000 to defuse one mine".
He described the challenges facing the demining project as "massive". 
"The contested areas will be the real challenge," he said. "Both sides laid thousands of mines in the no-man's land around Juba, Lainya, Kapoeta and Lafon. In between these places is the densest minefield in Sudan, perhaps in Africa. There could be hundreds of thousands."
The SPLA commander in charge of Yei and Juba counties, Paul Mac, told IRIN the rebel movement's administration had met do discuss the way forward on landmines. "We've procured equipment for demining," he said. "As soon as we sign a total ceasefire, we can remove the mines and we will sign a treaty to that effect."
Mach Maika said the NPA's work was made more difficult by the fact that SPLA landmines were not mapped. 
"Both sides have mined heavily but the SPLA are especially poor at keeping records," he said. "They are much better at detecting enemy mines than they are at keeping track of where their own are."
He said this was because many of the mine layers were killed before they had a chance to report back to SPLA headquarters. Another reason, he said, was that often there was simply no paper available for mapping.

The government of Sudan has accused Eritrea and the Sudanese opposition party PNC (People’s National Congress) of backing the rebels active in the region of Darfur in the far west of the country near the border with Chad, the state news agency ‘Suma’ has said. According to the head of the Sudanese secret services, General Abdel Karim Abdallah, “there is concrete proof of the support received by SLA-M (Sudan’s Liberation Army-Movement) from Asmara”, but also of the backing by some members of the Islamic Hassan al-Tourabi party. The general (at the head of the government delegation in the peace talks with SLA-M which opened in Chad on Monday and were suspended 24 hours later) explained that Eritrea wants to “trigger a war in the west and east of Sudan” to compensate for the imminent conclusion of the 20-year conflict in the south of the country. As regards PNC, the general renewed the charges made by Khartoum recently, stressing that many of the party officials are hand in glove with the rebel movement in Darfur. They include SLA-M spokesman Hassan Ibrahim, Souleiman Jamous, Abou Bakr Hamid and Ahmed Jibrili – all members of PNC who helped the rebels to formulate the proposals made during the negotiations. The PNC leadership has told the French agency ‘AFP’ that Jamous and Hamid are party officials, while the other two are not even on the party roll
 

Police closes ‘Al Jazeera’ shadow of crisis in Durfur

The Khartoum office of the television ‘Al Jazeera’ has been shut down by Sudanese security forces, the Qatar-based broadcasting network has said. ‘Al Jazeera’ says police stormed its premises in the Sudanese capital on Thursday and questioned the director, Islam Saleh, without explanation. The police then returned to the offices to confiscate technical material and computers. The central management explains that the motto of the Sudanese channel is “opinion and counter-opinion”; on the basis of this philosophy it has recently given space to both the government and the opposition, perhaps irritating Khartoum. Meanwhile, the Italian news agency ‘ANSA’ has reported that the police in the capital have also searched the headquarters of the opposition party PNC (People’s National Congress) and arrested three leaders. Though no precise explanation has been given, observers in Khartoum are not ruling out the possibility that both episodes are linked to recent tension in the western region of Darfur. In two of the States that make up this area, North Darfur and South Darfur, an evening curfew has been imposed. Moreover, in North Darfur the governor has decreed a general mobilisation to counter “possible threats” to stability and public order from the rebels of SLA (Sudan Liberation Army) following the breakdown in peace negotiations between the government and the formation in neighbouring Chad. The leader of PNC, the Islamic ideologue Hassan El Turabi, has been accused of fomenting tensions in Darfur recently. El Turabi has recently been released from months of house arrest.

The peace talks between the authorities of Khartoum and the rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) underway in Naivasha (near Nairobi, Kenya), did not close today as foreseen. The negotiation is continuing, though according to sources close to the two delegations, the positions remain divergent and no date was indicated for the signing of the long-awaited peace accord to end the war started in 1983 between the Islamic regime of the north and the rebellion of the south, predominantly Animist and Christian. “Now it is the turn of the two parts – declared the mediator Lazarus Sumbeiywo, special envoy of the Kenyan government – but for the moment they have not communicated to me their availability to sign anything”. The unresolved contrasts include, since the start of the negotiations in 2002, the sharing of the proceeds of the oil from the deposits of South Sudan: “We are blocked on this point: the government wants to concede us 5% of the oil proceeds, while we are asking 60%. So far the authorities have accepted to concede us up to 17%”, declared Malik Agar of the SPLA delegation. The pressures of the international community, particularly of the US, UK, Norway and Italian mediators, had pushed the Sudan government and rebels to ‘pledge’ the signing of an accord by the end of December. Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka today expressed confidence on this possibility. Aside from the oil matter, the agenda also includes discussions on the division of powers between the sides and the ‘status’ of three regions: Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Abyei). Based on various sources, also the dramatic situation in the western Darfur region, theatre to clashes between local rebels and the Sudan armed forces, has apparently entered the negotiations

Negotiations underway in Chad since Monday were suspended between the government of Khartoum and rebels of the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement), active in the western region of Darfur. The announcement was made yesterday by Chadian Security Minister Abdramane Moussa, cited by the ‘AFP’ agency. “We learn with disappointment – stated Moussa – that the rebels posed unacceptable conditions immediately blocking the negotiations. It is a defeat”. The government of Chad however remains open as mediator between the sides. According to the same source, the rebels also asked for a percentage of the oil proceeds and autonomy in the administration of the territory. “The SLA-M does not represent all the actors operating on the field”, added the Chadian Minister, specifying that numerous armed groups that did not sign the September 3 truce between the rebels and Sudan authorities are active in Darfur. The rebels of Darfur, inhabited by some 6-million people, accuse the government of Khartoum of not guaranteeing protection to the population, exposed to continuous attacks by Islamic nomad groups, which have so far claimed several thousand lives. According to the United Nations, at least 7-thousand people have been killed since the start of 2003 in this zone, while the displaced are estimated to be 600-thousand, 70-thousand of which have sought refuge in bordering Chad. In face of the structural lack of security, last February the SLA-M, formed in 2001, transformed into an actual rebellion against the Khartoum central government. The Darfur region is also presided by a less renowned rebel group, called the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement

Opposition leaders in Sudan have warned against a bilateral peace agreement between the government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that does not directly address the grievances of Sudan's marginalised northern populations. 
"If the peace process is a bilateral process, it will be a very temporary peace that will unravel very soon," said Sadiq al Mahdi, leader of the Umma party which enjoys wide popular support in the violence-wracked western Darfur region. 
"There is a cocktail of ethnic based political dissent, armed and supported from outside. It is going to be copied by others unless problems are universally addressed," he said. 
Islamist leader and former parliament speaker Hassan al Turabi, who heads the Popular Congress Party, concurred that a bilateral peace deal would lead to an escalation of conflict in both western and eastern Sudan. 
"Sudan has never been in a more critical position than it is today - [in terms of] breaking up into regions or joining together by free will," he told IRIN. 
Turabi acknowledged his connections with the Justice and Equality Movement rebel movement in Darfur, but denied giving it material support. 
"We support the cause, no doubt about it," he said, but added: "I didn't say I'm involved with the fighting, I said we have relations with some of the leadership." 
The Darfur region has seen an escalation of violence due to fighting between Arab militias and two main rebel groups. 
Both leaders told IRIN that reform of the Khartoum government was the only way to resolve and prevent further conflict in Sudan. 
"The most important thing is a decentralisation of power, a federal government. It's very simple," said Turabi. 
Al Mahdi added that the government
 had to acknowledge the extent of the crisis in Darfur, and the failure of its policies in the region. 
He said a national conference should be convened including all of Sudan's political parties, armed forces and civil society groups to decide on "the reforms needed" in a bid to to resolve the escalating crisis in Darfur. 
The International Crisis Group think tank has warned the international community not to focus solely on the peace process underway with the SPLM/A, at the expense of the situation in Darfur. 
"The end of one tragic civil war in Sudan should not be allowed to be a catalyst for a new one," it warned in a recent report.

The US embassy in Khartoum on Wednesday protested against the suspension of two newspapers by the Sudanese government, despite Khartoum's pledge to lift restrictions on press freedom. 
The English language 'Khartoum Monitor' has been closed since 24 November and the Arabic 'Al-Ayam' since 17 November. 
"The government's action against the newspapers - convicted of no wrongdoing and charged under dubious circumstances - inflicts grave financial losses on the newspapers and puts into question the commitment of the government to press freedom," said a US embassy statement. 
"The US embassy also wishes to reiterate that Sudan's human rights performance will be a chief factor - along with the peace process - in determining the pace of hoped-for improvement in our bilateral relations," it warned. 
However, the Sudanese government says the papers published "controversial issues that did not promote an atmosphere of peace and concord", 'Al-Ra'y al-Amm' newspaper said. 
Information Minister Al Zhawi Ibrahim Malik specified that 'Al-Ayam' had published "false information" about the strife-torn Darfur region. 
"Those with their own agendas are trying to give a very sad view of what is happening in Darfur," he told IRIN. "The propaganda in the west is trying to exaggerate what is happening [there]." 
Editor of the 'Khartoum Monitor', Alfred Taban, said his newspaper had been closed seven times in the last two years for different reasons. 
The government was now prosecuting the newspaper for being "against peace", causing "racial disharmony" and "disrespecting the judiciary" as a result of four letters to the editor that it published, he told IRIN. 
He said the closures were detrimental to the Sudanese peace process. "If a peace agreement is signed without the knowledge and support of southerners, it will not hold," he stated. 

Sudanese peace talks on Monday moved closer to an agreement to end the country's 20-year civil war, although doubts remained over its viability because of ongoing fighting in the west of the country. 
A source close to the Kenya talks between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) told IRIN on Monday that the parties were close to reaching an agreement on wealth sharing, one of the three remaining sticking points. 
The other remaining issues in the talks facilitated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD, include power sharing and the status of three disputed regions during a six- year transitional period. 
According to the source, both sides had agreed on the idea of a central bank with two "windows" - one overseeing an Islamic banking system for the north and the other commercial banking for the secular south. 
"It was felt that wealth sharing would be easier to deal with," the source said. "After that we can deal with the issues of power sharing and the disputed regions." 
He noted there could soon be an agreement on currency as well as the percentage of oil revenues to be shared between the north and the south. The north, he said, would continue with the dinar and south Sudan would adopt the new Sudan pound. 
In its latest report, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank has said that this peace process should take into account the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Darfur region of western Sudan, warning that one conflict risked being replaced by another.

Members of Sudan's National Assembly from Darfur have appealed for international intervention to stop killings and displacement in the region. 
"There has to be a quick international intervention to protect civilians because they are dying - nearly 50 to 100 a week," one MP told IRIN. "There is an international responsibility to intervene as quickly as possible." 
Fighting in Darfur between Arab militias and rebel groups, which escalated in March this year, has driven an estimated 670,000 people from their homes, 70,000 of whom have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad. 
The MPs emphasised the political nature of the conflict, accusing the Sudanese government of manipulating traditional ethnic tensions and pursuing a policy of "Arabisation" in Darfur, in order to maintain a support base there. 
The Sudanese government strongly denies backing the militias, known as the Janjaweed (meaning "a man with a horse and a gun"). It says it has urged all tribes in Darfur to "defend" themselves against rebels in the region. 
The MPs have demanded that the Darfur issue be discussed at peace talks underway in Kenya between the government and main rebel group, Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). 
"There has to be a peace settlement in Darfur before signing a comprehensive agreement," said one MP. "It has to be treated equally with the rest of the marginalised areas." 
The MPs described a separate peace process - which led to a three-month ceasefire from September to December - between the government and the Darfur rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) as "a waste of time". 
Chad, which has been brokering the talks, is also seen by many Darfurians as a partial mediator. "Any negotiation that is not monitored by the international community will lead to nothing," said the MP. 
"Chad alone cannot broker peace - it is also affected by this war. Tribes from Chad are fighting in Sudan and they are affected politically so it cannot act independently," said another. 
In 1990, Chadian President Idris Deby toppled his predecessor Hissein Habre in a coup. Observers note that Deby, a Zaghawa, was given support and sanctuary by the Zaghawans - one of Darfur's main ethnic groups - on the Sudanese side of the border. 
A regional analyst told IRIN that Deby, who maintains good relations with the Sudanese government and is keen to pacify his Zaghawa constituency at home, wants to contain the Darfur conflict to prevent it from spilling over into Chad. 
"Deby is very aware of what a rebellion among the Zaghawa in Sudan could do to harm him," the analyst said.

The United Nations Secretary General called for an immediate cease-fire for Darfur, the western region of Sudan, for months theatre to clashes between rebel groups and the government of Khartoum. Kofi Annan, in a document distributed in the past days by his spokesman Fred Eckard, invited the rebels of the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement) and Sudan government to “finalise a definitive cease-fire accord and respect it”. Annan’s request comes following the confirmation, by Khartoum authorities, of the annulment of the last round of negotiations set for yesterday in Abeche, in Chad. The talks, postponed indefinitely, were suspended to consent Khartoum to verify some reports of violations by the rebels of the temporary truce signed by the sides September 3 and renewed at the start of November. For over a month now the rebels and government have been exchanging accusations of truce violations. Annan expressed concern “over the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation” and added to have received news of numerous acts of violence against the civilians, including murder, abuse against women, looting, villages set on fire. “The insecurity is seriously jeopardising efforts to guarantee humanitarian assistance and a large part of the one-million Sudanese afflicted by the conflict in this zone cannot be reached by the workers of the international agencies”, added the spokesman. In the past days also the UN special humanitarian envoy for Sudan, Tom Vraalsen, launched a alert over the situation in Darfur, defining it “very critical”. According to the UN, 7-thousand people have been killed in the zone since the start of 2003, while an estimated 600-thousand people have been displaced, 70-thousand of which have taken refuge in bordering Chad. The Darfur region is inhabited by some 6-million Sudanese (a fifth of the population of the nation), for years exposed to violent actions of Arab nomad groups, which has so far resulted in several thousand deaths. In face of the structural lack of security, last February the SLA-M, formed in 2001, transformed into a real rebellion against the government of Khartoum. The region is also presided by another rebel group, less known, the JEM (Justice and Equality Movement

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

Looting and killing has become a way of life around Junaynah, capital of Sudan's strife-torn western Darfur province. Local leaders say the attacks are being carried out by Arab militias who conduct their almost daily raids "with total impunity".
"I believe this is an elimination of the black race," one tribal leader told IRIN.
He said that since Saturday alone, an estimated 9,000 people had become displaced in attacks on 15 villages located between 20 and 40 km from the town. 
Sixteen injured men were brought to Junaynah hospital on Tuesday night, and 10 on Monday, all with gunshot wounds. The hospital receives five or six casualties with gunshot wounds daily.

Horse - backed militias 
Highly visible around the town, the horse-backed Arab nomads - Janjaweed militias or Peshmerga as they are known in western Darfur - were unusually absent on Wednesday. Local sources said an attack from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel group was imminent, and there was a highly visible military presence.
Corroborating sources have accused the government of backing the militias, charges it denies. Dr Sula Feldeen, the national humanitarian aid commissioner, told IRIN all of Sudan's tribes had been asked to defend themselves against the rebels, not just Arabs. "No tribe was excluded," he said. "Some are coming forward and some are not. This does not mean that the government is biased against one group." 
In a report on Thursday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said the conflict started when the JEM and another rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), launched their first attacks on government garrisons in the region in February 2003. 
"In response to those actions, the government of Sudan has mobilised and armed Arab militias (Janjaweed), whose salary comes directly from booty captured in raids on villages, to terrorise the populace of Darfur," the ICG said. It added that the Janjaweed had stepped up activities in the past three months against the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massalit groups, who are collectively accused of supporting the rebellion. 
"The fact is the government is arming some tribes, just Arabs, they go and kill, take the belongings and rape the women," local sources in Junaynah told IRIN. "The militias have been given access to good arms, they are better than the army's."

Food concerns
Concern is mounting in western Darfur over looming food shortages, as the nomads' camels roam across local farms destroying crops. 
"Now they are fighting with bullets, but the time will come when starvation will set in," said one local leader.
Those who try to defend their farms with guns come under attack, and are sometimes arrested by the local authorities, IRIN was told. Local farmers are unable to leave their homes to harvest or to go to local villages to trade for fear of being shot.
Commercial traffic in western Darfur has all but stopped, and food prices have increased  dramatically from 1,800 Sudanese dinar to 7,000 for a bag of millet. 
Wood and charcoal prices have also gone up, while livestock are decreasing in value as people desperately try to sell their animals before they are looted. 
"The visible agenda is to fight the rebels, the invisible agenda is to get rich by looting and expand their tribal grazing areas," said a local source.

Peace efforts 
Meanwhile, local efforts to begin a peace initiative have been put on hold. A meeting in Junaynah which planned to bring together leaders of 20 tribes - Arab and black African - was reportedly cancelled last week by the local authorities. 
Elsewhere in Darfur, humanitarian sources told IRIN that NGOs and UN agencies had been prevented from travelling to needy government and rebel-held areas in the north.
UN officials and aid agencies were assured on Friday by local authorities that northern Darfur was calm and safe and that access would be granted. But five days later agencies were still awaiting travel permits to areas, including several held by the government. 
"The problem is in areas controlled by the SLM," explained deputy governor El Nour Mohammed Ibrahim. "Our experience has made us hesitant to send relief to areas under the SLM because of kidnapping and attacks on trucks." 
In its report, the ICG warned the international community not to focus solely on the regional peace process, mediated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) between the government and Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA/M).
"The international community has thus far failed to respond appropriately to these developments, in part because the attention of the world remains focused squarely on the IGAD peace process," said the ICG's John Prendergast. 
"The government of Sudan is being feted by the international community for its transition to peacemaker through the IGAD process, while it continues to carry out a bloody campaign by proxy against the people of Darfur," he added. "The end of one tragic civil war in Sudan should not be allowed to be a catalyst for a new one". 

Nyala, Southern Darfur - For over three weeks, humanitarian access has been blocked to key areas of Darfur in western Sudan, where there are hundreds of thousands of displaced people and a steadily worsening humanitarian situation.
"Access is certainly being denied and security is no doubt an important reason," UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Mukesh Kapila told IRIN. "However, because the clearance system for travel permits does not appear to have adequate transparency we cannot tell whether a denial to travel is based entirely on the grounds of security or whether there are other reasons for denying access." 
Areas held by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) rebel group have not received medical aid for months and only limited food supplies.
"The reports, allegations of human rights violations are too persistent, too systematic, too repetitive from different sources to not be given credibility," Kapila noted.
"Under those circumstances and with the mounting evidence, one must say there is a prima facie case that some of the denials of access may well be related to the discomfort of the parties concerned to allow international witnesses," he added. 
However, the acting governor in Nyala, Adam Idris Al Silaik, told IRIN it was "too difficult" to send aid to rebel-held areas. 
"I agree that transparency is important but we as a government assure you that the NGOs are our guests and we are supposed to protect them," he said. He described the Arab Janjaweed militias, held responsible for the much of the disorder, as a "group of thieves". 
But he added that the situation in southern Darfur was calm and "under control". 
Humanitarian sources said rebel-held areas around Teigi, Kedineer, Yara, and East Jebel Mara in southern Darfur were not receiving any aid at all.
Eric Vraalsen, the UN special humanitarian envoy for Sudan, urged the Sudanese authorities to "come out in the open" on security issues and said it was imperative that all parties to the conflict agree to "a humanitarian ceasefire" that guaranteed unimpeded access to aid.
Sudanese officials deny claims that the government is backing the Arab militias. Dr Sula Feldeen, the national humanitarian aid commissioner told IRIN the militias were "defending" their property and supporting the government's "attempt to fight the rebellion movement". 
He said all of Sudan's tribes had been asked to defend themselves from the rebels, not just Arabs. "No tribe was excluded," he said. "Some are coming forward and some are not. This does not mean that the government is biased against one group." 
Meanwhile, peace talks between the government and the SLM/A - due to take place on 10 December -  have been postponed. Attempts are underway to bring Darfur's second rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement, into the process but have so far yielded no results. 
The militias, which are considered by humanitarian actors to be the main aggressors in the conflict, are not part of the peace process. 

5 December: The two key figures in the Sudan peace talks are meeting, today, to discuss the final stages of a peace agreement. First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and the leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), John Garang, will meet at Lake Naivasha in Kenya. At the same time SPLA officials will travel to the capital, Khartoum, for the first time in a 20-year civil war. The unprecedented visit by SPLA officials to Khartoum as guests of the government is a mark of just how far the two sides have come. However, the authorities and the rebels have yet to agree on how to share power and oil wealth. Also: Whether Islamic law will apply in the capital, Khartoum; How oil revenue is to be shared out; what type of international supervision will take place; the status of three central areas: Abyei, Blue Nile State and Nuba Mountains. 6 December: Vice-President Taha and John Garang have begun their talks in Kenya. Yesterday, the rebel delegation received a tumultuous reception in Khartoum. It was the first time Dr Garang's SPLA rebels had entered the city in 20 years of a civil war in which two million people are thought to have died. 9 December: President G.W. Bush telephones Sudan's President and John Garang urging them to sign a peace deal. 

The UN head of Emergency Relief Coordination, Jan Egeland, has expressed concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Darfur, western Sudan, and urged the warring sides to desist from deliberately attacking civilians.
In a statement issued by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Egeland said insecurity in Darfur had now reached "unprecedented levels", due to fighting between forces loyal to the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM).
"The humanitarian situation in Darfur has quickly become one of the worst in the world," Egeland said. "I remind combatants of their obligation to minimise the impact of their hostilities on civilian populations, in accordance with international law."
The fighting in Darfur which escalated in March this year, has driven an estimated 670,000 people from their homes, 70,000 of whom have fled across the border into neighbouring Chad. 
At the same time, humanitarian access to the region has been constrained by restrictions on travel permits and insecurity caused by militia activity and banditry.
Egeland warned of severe shortages of food, shelter, water and sanitation among the displaced people and urged donors to quickly intervene to avert a worsening situation. So far, he said, only US $12 million, out of the $22.8 million requested by the UN under the "Greater Darfur Special Initiative", launched in September, had been received. 
"As the need for aid grows, stocks of relief materials are dwindling. Additional supplies are in the pipeline, but unless urgent additional funding is received, a pipeline break is possible at the end of this month," he warned.

A crucial round of talks, between the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) resumed on Monday with both sides reiterating their earlier commitment to reach a final agreement before the end of the year. During the talks, being held in the Kenyan town of Naivasha, the parties are expected to hammer out the final details of a comprehensive peace agreement to end the country's 20-year civil war. Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, Sudanese deputy ambassador to Kenya, told IRIN from Naivasha that a target date of 20 December had already been set by both parties and mediators to sign a draft accord. The first four days of the talks would be dedicated to technical details, he said, after which Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang were expected to arrive on 5 December to begin high level negotiations. [Full story at: 
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=38169]

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has sent a high profile "goodwill delegation" to meet government officials in Khartoum, as peace talks shifted into final gear in the Kenyan town of Naivasha. 
SPLM/A spokesman George Garang told IRIN on Friday that a delegation, comprising senior members of the rebel movement, left Kenya on Thursday for Khartoum, for the first time since the rebel movement was launched in 1983. 
The delegation would pass through Uganda and Libya and was expected in Khartoum on Friday. It would send a message to the Sudanese people that the current momentum towards peace was "irreversible", Garang said. 
"This is a very serious development," he stressed. "We have sent the delegation to tell the people of Sudan that peace is inevitable. Some of us have been away from Sudan for 23 years."
The delegation, led by Senior Commander Bagan Amom and SPLM official spokesman Samson Kwaje, would be received by government officials and would participate in an "elaborate programme" which would also include meetings with civil society groups, trade unions and political parties, Garang said. 
The Sudanese government has welcomed the visit. In statement, foreign ministry undersecretary  Mutrif Sidiq said the "idea of the visit" was presented by First Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha to SPLM/A leader Johan Garang, who in turn encouraged the visit, the Sudanese news agency SUNA reported. 
Cirino Hiteng, a Sudanese political consultant and analyst, said he was optimistic that the visit  would give the necessary boost to the peace process at this final stage of the talks. 
"I think peace is imminent. It is just a matter of time," Hiteng told IRIN. "We have reached a stage of no return. The parties have to make compromises."
Meanwhile, talks which resumed in Naivasha on Monday, are "on schedule" with both vice president Taha and SPLM/A leader John Garang expected to arrive by Saturday, Garang said.
Two committees have so far been set up to smooth out the remaining difficult issues of power sharing and the administrative status of three disputed areas.

The rebels of Darfur, in battle against the Sudan government troops, have no intention of renewing the truce undersigned in September that expires today. “We have no interests in peace talks, because the aggressions by the government continue”, stated to the United Nations ‘Irin news’ agency Ahmad Abd al-Shafi, spokesman of the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement). The cease-fire, which the parts accuse each other of violating, was signed September 3 in Chad and at the start of November extended for a month. “There has been no cessation of the hostilities”, he reiterated. The spokesman of the rebels of the Darfur – an isolated region around 1000km west of the capital Khartoum – also stated that the government of Chad, in quality of mediator, has proposed a negotiation. “We cannot participate – stated Al-Shafi – unless some points are taken in consideration”. The conflict escalated in the past weeks, due to Arab armed gangs that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people. According to the UN, some 600-thousand Sudanese have been forced to abandon certain areas of Darfur; a great majority have sought refuge along the border with Chad, others in some inhabited zones. The wide insecurity renders the zone inaccessible to humanitarian organisations to bring assistance to the population. The independent ‘Our Times’ weekly of Chad yesterday denounced that “the situation is critical and a humanitarian catastrophe is imminent”, accusing the government of N’Djamena of silencing the unfolding drama.

The resumption of a ceasefire agreement between the Sudanese government and Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) in Darfur, western Sudan, is highly unlikely, according to the rebel group.
"We have no interest in going to peace talks. There will be nothing new, there will be continued aggression from the government,"  SLM/A spokesman Ahmad Abd al-Shafi told IRIN on Wednesday.
The frequently violated agreement, which was brokered by Chad on 3 September, was renewed on 4 November for one month. "This ceasefire is a waste of time," said al-Shafi. "There is no ceasefire."
He added that the SLM had been requested to attend fresh peace talks by the Chadian government, which has brokered the ceasefire deal to date. "Unless we settle some points we cannot go to talks," he said. 
The Darfur conflict has escalated since early November with an upsurge in Arab militia activity, which has left western Darfur largely inaccessible. Amnesty International says there is "compelling evidence" of government involvement in the attacks, charges which the government denies. Observers say the government may have lost control over the militias to varying degrees. They also point to possible splits in the SLM leadership, although al-Shafi denied this. 
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a second rebel group which was not party to the ceasefire agreement, has also rapidly gained strength in western Darfur
Regional analysts say the rise in support for the JEM may be attributable to the fact that the SLM advocates a secular state in Darfur, a religiously conservative part of northern Sudan. Meanwhile, humanitarian access remains largely blocked in the region, with only a handful of aid agencies granted permission by the government to enter and work there. The NGO, Save the Children, said on Tuesday that current malnutrition rates in Darfur were reported to be "alarmingly high" with global acute malnutrition rates reaching 25 percent in some areas, which remained inaccessible to aid workers. 
"The precarious nutritional situation of children and their families could dramatically deteriorate should a disease break out, or should they be displaced further," it said in a statement. 

The rebels and government of Sudan have extended the cease-fire signed last year for another two months. The announcement was made by the mediators of the IGAD (Inter-Governmental Authorities for Development), the regional organism of the Horn of Africa that guided the entire negotiation, which started at the end of 2002 in Machakos (Kenya), to end the civil war between Khartoum and the rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army). The news of the extension of the truce comes just two days from the resumption of the talks between the side in Naivasha (Kenya), which should bring to the signing of a definitive accord by the end of the war. “In certainty that all will be over by the end of 2003, we in fact only extended the truce for two months instead of the usual 90 days”, stated IGAD mediator Lazaro Sumbeiywo during the ceremony for the renewal of the cease-fire. There is however some cautious optimism, observers in fact advanced the doubts that a final accord would not be reached before the first months of 2004. The works are not only slowed down by the religious festivities, Muslim (Ramadan) and Christian (Christmas), but also the lack of an agreement between the sides on some aspects of the accord. The remaining unresolved points are in fact not secondary, despite international pressures, the sides still have to define control over control of the southern oil zones and relative proceeds.

Over the last five days, 210 people have been killed in fighting between militias and a rebel group on the outskirts of Junaynah, western Darfur, according to a local rebel group. 
Armed Arab militias had burned down three villages in the area, killing 24 people, injuring 18, and looting everything in sight, Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur, spokesman for the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told IRIN. The rebel group and local civilians retalitated by killing 186 members of the militias, he said. 
Without any international monitors in the region, there is no independent confirmation of the figures. 
Many of the Arab militia members came from neighbouring Chad, al-Nur told IRIN. "The Sudanese government gives them money and weapons and support from its soldiers," he claimed. 
On Thursday Amnesty International said there was "compelling evidence" that at least some elements of the Sudanese army were supporting the militias. 
The government has consistently denied the allegations. 
"Farming communities are being pushed off their land towards the city of Junaynah and elsewhere, while nomadic people supported by the militias are using their land for pasture," al-Nur said. 
"Those who have not been displaced are too scared to work in their fields because of the militia presence," he added. "We are calling on the humanitarian community to come to the area to know what's happening." 
The lack of travel permits being granted by the Sudanese government, coupled with general insecurity, is preventing aid agencies from supplying urgently needed humanitarian aid.

There is "compelling evidence" that the government of Sudan is "largely responsible" for the abuses and humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan, said rights group Amnesty International (AI) in a statement on Thursday. 
Arab militia groups responsible for attacks on farming communities which have killed thousands, contained well armed and uniformed elements of the Sudanese army, AI researcher Benedicte Goderiaux told IRIN. 
Following interviews with refugees from Darfur who have fled to neighbouring Chad, AI said it had come to the "the bleak conclusion that at least some elements in the army" were encouraging the devastation. According to the UN, 600,000 people have been displaced since February. 
"Refugee after refugee, in widely scattered areas, told how militias armed with kalashnikovs and other weapons, including bazookas, often dressed in green army uniforms, raided villages, burnt houses and crops and killed people and cattle," the statement said. Allegations of abductions, rape of women, and torture in detention had also been made. 
The Sudanese government has repeatedly denied backing the Arab militia groups in Darfur, known as the Janjaweed, but has committed itself to controlling them. At the very least, AI said it had "totally failed in its obligation to protect its own people". 
Goderiaux said she would be "cautious" about describing the attacks as ethnic cleansing. The attacks have mainly targeted the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, which make up two rebel movements - the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement - fighting for political and economic rights. 
Goderiaux warned that the conflict, which is currently centered in northern and western Darfur, had the potential to spread further and become a fullscale civil war. 
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Thursday said the security situation along the Chadian border was deteriorating, as the militias launched "bolder and more aggressive attacks". 
Over a three-week period, the militias had launched six raids on refugee and Chadian communities close to the border, stealing hundreds of cattle and killing a Chadian villager, the agency said. In another attack Arab militias had torched six villages over the border from Borota. 
Meanwhile, the lack of travel permits being granted by the Sudanese government, coupled with general insecurity, is preventing aid agencies from supplying urgently needed humanitarian aid. - http://www.amnesty.org

The "marginalised majority" in Sudan, including rebel groups fighting against the government in the country's only remaining battlefield, Darfur, will not accept a bilateral peace agreement between the government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), according to a Darfur rebel group. 
"A deal between the SPLM/A and the government will not bring peace to Sudan," Dr Khalil Ibrahim, the exiled chairman of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), told IRIN from France. "This agreement is not fair for the other regions. The SPLM does not represent the other regions, only the south." 
Ibrahim told IRIN a peace agreement that excluded Sudan's other rebel groups could never be a "comprehensive agreement", and would instead lead to an escalation of fighting in Darfur and other areas. Fighting would "flare up" in eastern Sudan and Kordofan, he said, as rebel groups emerged which felt their grievances were not being represented. 
"After a peace agreement between the SPLM and the government there will be heavy fighting," said Khalil. "It will be a period of dictatorship sponsored by the international community." 
The JEM had already established some contacts with other groups, such as the Beja, in eastern Sudan, he said, and "was moving in the direction" of a coordinated military response. 
Various groups would try to topple the Sudanese government, led by President Umar al-Bashir, which would not be able to hold on to its limited power-base for much longer, he added. "The north is not just one entity; it is made up of five separate regions. Since 1956, we have been ruled by elites from the northern region, but we are the majority. The population of Darfur and Kordofan account for over 50 percent of the total population," he said. "Power will be taken over by the marginalised majority." 
Numerous but unsuccessful calls have been made by the opposition in northern Sudan, as well as rebel groups, to allow broad participation in the peace talks taking place between the government and the SPLM/A in neighbouring Kenya. The two sides have said a comprehensive agreement can be reached by the end of the year, following the next session of talks due to convene on 30 November. 
Meanwhile, the conflict in Darfur has escalated steadily since the beginning of the year. Since February, fighting between government soldiers, mililita groups - which the government has been accused of supporting - and rebel groups has killed thousands of people and displaced about 600,000, with a further 65,000 to 70,000 fleeing to neighbouring Chad. 
The JEM took up arms in February 2003 to fight against the long-term marginalisation of Darfur. Independent of the better known Darfur rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), it says it is fighting for an autonomous state within a unified Sudan, and equal sharing of power, resources and wealth. 
"Our objective is to improve the quality of life for the whole of Sudan," said Khalil, adding that Darfur was "just a starting point". He said the JEM and SLM/A had similar objectives, but the JEM had "a broader base" with troops and supporters stationed in Kordofan and other areas. 
Since mid-November, heavy fighting has reportedly taken place in western Darfur between the JEM, and the government and militia groups operating in the region. 
According to Ibrahim many of the militias the JEM forces have clashed with are from Chad, who are being paid by Sudanese elements to fight and have been given a licence to loot Sudanese property.

International oil companies in Sudan share full responsibility with the Sudanese government for the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians from oil concession areas, as well as countless other human rights abuses, according to the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Oil company executives had "turned a blind eye" to well-reported government attacks on civilians and civilian targets, including aerial bombings of hospitals, churches, relief operations and schools, it said in a new report entitled "Sudan, Oil and Human Rights". 
"Oil companies operating in Sudan were aware of the killing, bombing and looting, that took place in the south, all in the name of opening up the oilfields," said Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher for HRW. "These facts were repeatedly brought to their attention in public and private meetings, but they continued to operate and make a profit as the devastation went on."
But the international oil companies have repeatedly denied any complicity. Canadian Talisman repeatedly claimed it was a force for good in the region by providing "development" opportunities for local Sudanese, and adopting a set of "Sudan Operating Principles" which promoted human rights protection, HRW said. 
It also went as far as paying for costly satellite photographs by an "expert" to "prove" that no displacement had taken place at all, but limited the scope of the project to several small areas inside its concession, the report added.
Sudanese government oil revenues rose from zero in 1998 to almost 42 percent of total government revenue in 2001. According to the government, 60 percent of the US $580 million received in oil revenue in 2001 was absorbed by its military for foreign weapons and a domestic arms industry.
[To access the HRW report click on the following: - http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/sudan1103/sudanprint.pdf ]

The international NGO, Medair, is struggling to establish who abducted and held four of its staff along with a government official in western Darfur, northern Sudan, almost two weeks ago. 
The five Sudanese were abducted after Medair lost contact with them on 11 November while they were distributing kits for displaced people around Silea and Kolbus, in western Darfur.
The aid workers were handed over to safety on Saturday afternoon by a local rebel group, the Justice and Equality movement (JEM), to Chadian authorities and staff from Medecins Sans Frontieres in the border town of Tine. 
But how the abductees came into the hands of JEM, and who abducted them in the first place remains uncertain, Erik Volkmar Chief Executive Officer of Medair told IRIN. He said probably either a militia group or bandits in the area were responsible. "We're not quite sure at this time who this group was," he added. 
He said the four Medair workers were believed to be in "good condition" and were expected to arrive back in Geneina, western Darfur, on Tuesday. 
Medair staff were informed by JEM on 17 November that it was holding the aid workers. "They really protected them and tried to find the best way to release them," said Volkmar. "The JEM wanted to be sure that they would be safe and that there would be some kind of international presence on the ground before they handed them over."
The rebel group claims to have "rescued" the workers from Arab militias and said it had not released them immediately in case they were kidnapped again.
Volkmar said he was very impressed with the "regularity" of the JEM's behaviour, adding that the group appeared to be concerned about getting more humanitarian aid into the war-torn region.
Hundreds of thousands of people have either been displaced, or fled to neighbouring Chad as a result of the insecurity. UN sources told IRIN that this month alone, tens of thousands of people had been displaced in the southern part of the region. 
Meanwhile, aid delivery in the area has come to a standstill because of insecurity and the lack of travel permits being given out by the Sudanese government on the grounds of the insecurity.
A spokesman for the main rebel group in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, told IRIN that a ceasefire agreement, renewed with the government on 4 November, had broken down completely. Attempts made by the Chadian authorities to bring the two sides together for peace talks had also failed, said spokesman Ahmad Abd al-Shafi.

Five aid workers, nearly all employees of the Swiss non-governmental organisation ‘MEDAIR’, that went missing in Darfur (south-western region of Sudan) several days ago, are in good health conditions. It was reported directly by MEDAIR, confirming that four of its Sudanese workers and the government employee had been handed over on Saturday night on the border with neighbouring Chad, and were now in good health in Chad. President of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Khalil Ibrahim, told Reuters from the Netherlands: ''We released the workers in the town of Tina to officials from Medecins Sans Frontieres, witnessed by the Chadian government.'' 
He said his group had rescued the workers after they were captured in the western Darfur region by Arab militias. His group did not release them immediately for fear they would be kidnapped again, he said. MEDAIR said earlier the five had gone missing just north of Geneina town, near Sudan's border with Chad. The five, all Sudanese nationals, were in a vehicle that set out Nov. 10 with three truckloads of aid for distribution in the towns of Silea and Kolbus, MEDAIR said. The three rented trucks returned to the MEDAIR base camp but their drivers had no information about the missing vehicle's whereabouts. 
The Khartoum government had accused another western rebel group, the SLA-M (Sudan’s Liberation Army-Movement) of abducting the workers and killing two of them, a charge which was denied by the SLA-M. Sudanese aid workers working for the US agency ‘USaid’ were killed in Darfur. In this isolated and semi desert area of the country, attacks carried out by Arab nomad tribes against the local population are quite frequent. The SLA-M, formed in August 2001 with the name of Darfur liberation movement, in February organised itself against the Khartoum authorities, accused of ignoring Darfur and not protecting the local population, exposed to the violence of Arab gangs. 
The Khartoum government and SLA-M signed a 45-day truce brokered by Chad on 6 August which was renewed in the past few days, but the Darfur guerrillas have repeatedly accused the authorities of failing to respect it. MEDAIR is one of the few international NGO’s that still operate in Darfur, where it commenced to work in 2001 with basic health programs. ``In spite of the increasing insecurity affecting this area, MEDAIR remains fully committed to continue its emergency response activities to support as many of these displaced people as possible,'' the agency said. Since last summer, following clashes between the SLA-m and the Sudanese government, MEDAIR has been assisting hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. American and UN officials estimate that at least 7,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands more forced to flee their homes since fighting began earlier this year in Darfur, home to nearly one-fifth of Sudan's 30 million people.

22 November: Sudanese rebel leader John Garang says there is a good chance of reaching a peace deal by the end of the year. Mr Garang -- leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -- was speaking after talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The US wants a deal to be reached by the end of December. Mr Garang said he considered that date more of an expression of hope than a formal deadline for the peace talks resuming in Kenya on 30 November. The talks, aimed at ending two decades of civil war, were adjourned for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The 20 years of fighting pitting rebels from the Christian and animist south against the Islamic government has left more than 1.5 million people dead. "We hope that we will reach a final, just and comprehensive agreement before the end of the year," Mr Garang said after a meeting Mr Powell in Washington. Outstanding issues are: Whether Islamic law will apply in the capital, Khartoum; How oil revenue is shared out; What type of international supervision will take place; The status of three central areas: Abyei; Blue Nile State and Nuba Mountains 

22 November: Rebels in western Sudan have accused the government of violating a truce with airstrikes and militia raids that killed 30 people, mostly civilians. The government said it knew nothing of the attacks in the arid Darfur area, where the rebels of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) emerged as a fighting force in February, saying Khartoum had marginalized the impoverished region. "It's been very bad. Attacks by government militias and the air raid have killed 30 people and lots of livestock," SLM/A Secretary-General Minni Arcua Minnawi told Reuters by phone from western Sudan. Minnawi said 24 of the dead were civilians and the rest rebel fighters. He said the attacks had started on 20 November and continued into 22 November in the west of Northern Darfur state, about 850 kilometres west of the capital, Khartoum. "They used an Antonov airplane to bomb civilians areas today (22 November)," he said. In Khartoum, Internal Affairs Minister Major General Abdel Rahim Mohamed Hussein said he had not heard of any attacks in the area. 24 November: Rebels in the west of Sudan have released four aid workers, and a Sudan government employee they said they rescued from another militia who kidnapped them. An official from MEDAIR, a Swiss-based aid agency, confirmed four of its Sudanese workers and the government employee had been handed over on the night of 22 November, on the border with neighbouring Chad, and were now in good health in Chad. President of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, Khalil Ibrahim, told Reuters from the Netherlands: "We released the workers in the town of Tina to officials from Médécins Sans Frontières, witnessed by the Chadian government." He said his group had rescued the workers after they were captured in the western Darfur region by Arab militias. His group did not release them immediately for fear they would be kidnapped again, he said. The Khartoum government had accused the SLM/A of abducting the workers and killing two of them, a charge that group denied. 

At least ten civilians were reportedly killed in a government force bombing of some villages and rebel posts in the region of Darfur, in West Sudan. The report came from sources of the rebel movement, the SLA-M (Sudan Liberation Army-Movement). Abdallah Hassaballah, speaking to the AFP agency from Cairo, accused the government of Khartoum of ‘flagrant violation’ of the truce undersigned September 3. 
He added that the Sudan government attack struck the zone of Cornei, around 130km north of El-Fasher, main city of the partial-desert region of Darfur. According to the same source, the toll of the attack was of at least ten dead, including women and children, and numerous wounded. For the moment there are no confirmations from independent sources, given also to the difficulty to reach the remote zone of Sudan. 
The SLA-M and military exchange mutual accusations of violations of the truce reached two months ago. Since the start of 2003 the fighting escalated between the sides, causing an exodus of tens of thousands of people toward the border with Chad. The anti-government movement of Darfur, formed in 2001, at the start of this year turned into an actual rebellion, accusing Khartoum of neglecting the region and not guaranteeing security to the local population, constantly exposed to the actions of Islamic criminal gangs that in few years claimed over 2,000 lives

The cargo plane that crashed last Monday in southern Sudan. Killing all 13 passengers, was transporting $3,5 million. It was referred by Sudanese press sources, which specified that the Russian-made four-engine Anatov-12 cargo plane caught fire and exploded Monday as it prepared to land at Wau airport, 1000 km southwest of the capital, Khartoum. Local authorities say the cause of the crash is being investigated. 
The explosion killed everyone on board -- six foreign crew members (four Armenians, a Russian and two Uzbeks), three security officials, a Bank of Sudan official, a Saria engineer, a security policeman and a military policeman. It is not yet clear whether the plane was shot down or whether the crash is due to technical problems. Meanwhile, in the absence of evidence, the rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) – which in the past shot down planes – denied being responsible for the accident. Monday’s accident is the last of a long series. In recent years, one civil airline and several military planes have crashed in Sudan. 
A Sudanese airliner crashed July 8 near the Red Sea coast, leaving a baby boy as the sole survivor among the 116 passengers aboard the plane bound for Khartoum. The crash was blamed on technical faults. A sandstorm was blamed for an accident in April 2002 that killed 14 senior officers, including a deputy defence minister who directed the war against rebels in southern Sudan. In Upper Nile state in February 1998, a military plane crash killed Sudan's first vice president, General al-Zubair Mohammed Saleh, and 25 other people. The accident occurred at the airport at Nassir, in the southern part of the state, when the plane missed an emergency landing. In June 1999, 50 people, including six officers, died when a military plane crashed due to an unspecified technical problem in the eastern state of Kassala, near Ethiopia, officials said

Five aid workers, nearly all employees of the Swiss non-governmental organisation ‘Medair’, have been missing in Darfur (south-western region of Sudan) for a week. The five, all Sudanese nationals, were in a vehicle that set out Nov. 10 with three truckloads of aid for distribution in the towns of Silea and Kolbus, Medair said. The three rented trucks returned to the Medair base camp but their drivers had no information about the missing vehicle's whereabouts. ``Since then, intensive effort has been made into trying to locate them,'' Medair said without giving further details. 
Last month nine Sudanese aid workers working for the US agency ‘USaid’ were killed in Darfur. In this isolated and semi desert area of the country, attacks carried out by Arab nomad tribes against the local population are quite frequent. The SLA-M (Sudan’s Liberation Army-Movement), formed in August 2001 with the name of Darfur liberation movement, in February organised itself against the Khartoum authorities, accused of ignoring Darfur and not protecting the local population, exposed to the violence of Arab gangs. 
The Khartoum government and SLA-M signed a 45-day truce brokered by Chad on 6 August which was renewed in the past few days, but the Darfur guerrillas have repeatedly accused the authorities of failing to respect it. Medair is one of the few international NGO’s that still operate in Darfur, where it commenced to work in 2001 with basic health programs. ``In spite of the increasing insecurity affecting this area, Medair remains fully committed to continue its emergency response activities to support as many of these displaced people as possible,'' the agency said. 
Since last summer, following clashes between the SLA-m and the Sudanese government, Medair has been assisting hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people. American and UN officials estimate that at least 7,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands more forced to flee their homes since fighting began earlier this year in Darfur, home to nearly one-fifth of Sudan's 30 million people

The Medicines sans Frontieres international humanitarian organisation has said its teams are treating over 5,000 malaria patients each week in Bahr el Ghazal province, south central Sudan, following an outbreak of the disease in the region.
The agency said its team had treated 52,000 patients since the end of June, including 800 severe cases - a marked increase from previous years. It was still expecting to treat a high number patients until the end of the year. 
"Malaria is endemic in this region, but there has been a sustained increase in the numbers of cases this year, compared with previous years," Greg Elder, MSF medical coordinator for Sudan said in a statement. 
According to Elder, the number of consultations and hospitalisations in Akuem, one of its treatment locations in Bahr el Ghazal, "exploded" in July, a month earlier than the usual peak of August.
MSF has attributed this year's surge in malaria cases to the unusually heavy rains, which converted most of the region into marshland. 
The organisation said it had set up additional mobile clinics in the region.
"Two years of drought and a heavier rainy season have created ideal conditions for the mosquito, the vector of malaria," the MSF statement added.

The government of the Blue Nile State (south-east Sudan) called on Khartoum authorities for a form of autonomy during the 6-year transition period foreseen by the peace plan being defined with the rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army). According to the independent Al-Ayam newspaper, ninety-some representatives of the administration and dignitaries of the Blue Nile State met in the capital Ed-Damazine (around 550km south of Khartoum) to “restore confidence” between the regime of Sudan President Omar al Bashir and local authorities. 
Control over this region is in fact still in discussion between the sides involved in the twenty-year conflict. During the Ed-Damazine meeting the participants reiterated their rejection of any form of military control of the Blue Nile by the south Sudan rebellion. According to the paper, the delegates asked the central government for the urgent introduction of an emergency programme before the signing of the final accord between the government of Khartoum and SPLA, which could take place at the start of 2004. A delegation of the Blue Nile administration, made up by tribal and traditional chiefs, is expected in the capital in the next days to discuss the requests with the government of Al Bashir

Concern grows over deteriorating situation in Darfur

Concern continued to mount this week over increased displacement and a deteriorating humanitarian situation in Darfur, western Sudan, with calls for the international community to intervene in order to avert a humanitarian crisis in the region.
The UN warned that the situation in Darfur may emerge as the worst humanitarian crisis in Sudan since 1998, owing to rising displacement and declining access to the area because of insecurity. 
In a statement, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that insecurity had continued to cause displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and had hampered relief operations. "Humanitarian access is in some cases nonexistent, and there are few aid workers in the area," the statement said.
OCHA said despite ceasefire agreements between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) - the rebel movement operating in the region - humanitarian access was also uneven due to travel permit restrictions. 
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, said a humanitarian clause should be added to the currently negotiated ceasefire, allowing for unimpeded access to all vulnerable populations and for the protection of vulnerable civilians and humanitarian personnel.
And the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, who this week visited Sudan in preparation for the possible return of thousands of Sudanese refugees from neighbouring countries, also expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in Darfur. He urged the authorities to grant full access to humanitarian organisations. 
Lubbers told reporters in Sudan it was a "tragedy" that a country that was making peace was at the same time producing refugees. 
Contacted by IRIN for comment on the situation in Darfur, Sudan's Humanitarian Commissioner Sulaf El Din Salih said he could not discuss "such sensitive matters" over the phone. 
However, a local daily newspaper in Khartoum on Thursday said the commissioner had criticised the OCHA statement, accusing the UN of failing to address its concern over Darfur through the "official channels". 
"The measure taken by the organisation was inappropriate and we advise the UN to focus on its field work instead of press statements," 'Al-Adwa' newspaper quoted him as saying.
Abdulaziz Yahya, a political director of the SLM/A, told IRIN that no humanitarian assistance had so far reached the displaced people of Darfur, and he accused the government of restricting access to the area. 
"Now it is a very bad situation. No humanitarian support has arrived here. Our people are suffering more and more," Yahya said.
"We call on international organisations and the UN to come and see the suffering of our people," he stressed. 
He added that militias, known as Janjaweed, which were looting property and pushing civilians off their land, had attacked 49 villages in northern and western Darfur over the past two weeks. 
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, Sudan's deputy ambassador in Nairobi, told IRIN that he did not have "much information" on the situation in Darfur and could therefore not comment on the issue.
Since March this year, over half a million people have been displaced in Darfur, in addition to 70,000 who have fled to neighbouring Chad, according to OCHA. 
On 4 November, the Sudan government and SLM/A extended a ceasefire agreement for one month at a signing ceremony in the Chadian town of Abeche. [See IRIN story: http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=37662]

The Khartoum government and rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) will probably not reach a peace accord before the end of the year, contrary to assurances made by the sides to US State Secretary Colin Powell. This was the statement made in an interview with Reuters by the number two of the SPLA, Salva Kiir Mayardit, underlining that an accord may instead be reached in the two first months of 2004.
 “We will resume negotiations November 30 and these are still unresolved matters on the table”, stated Mayardit. Despite international pressures for an accord, there are some key factors still on the line, such as the division of control over the oil resources in the south and relative proceeds. No agreements have been found on this second point. 
The government wants 90% of the entries from the sale of South Sudan crude oil, while the rebels want %80 and mediators are pushing for a 50-50 solution. Also the destiny of three key areas remains up in the air (Blue Nile, Nuba Mounts and Abyei), which both sides claim control over. Meanwhile, the national 'Suna' agency referred that Khartoum yesterday discussed a plan with the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) for the repatriation of half a million of Sudan refugees. The 570-thousand expatriates (spread in 6 different African nations) will return as soon as the government and rebels sign a definitive peace accord to end two decades of war, which has claimed over two million lives

The peace talks to end two decades of civil war in Sudan will resume November 30. The news was referred by Salva Kiir, representative of the delegation of rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) in Cairo. In the meetings in the Egyptian capital the SPLA delegates met with the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, inviting him to attend the negotiations due to open at the end of the month in Naivasha (Kenya), not far from the capital Nairobi. 
Sudan President Omer al Beshir two days ago declared that the next round of talks between his government and rebellion could resume before the established date. The remaining issues to be discussed between the sides are the division of powers, distribution of oil proceeds and control of three regions of Central Sudan, At the end of October, in the presence of US State Secretary Colin Powell, the government of Khartoum and rebels pledged to reach a final accord by December 31. Since 1983 the SPLA has been combating against the Khartoum government for autonomy and independence of the South. The conflict has so far claimed over 2-million lives, for the most part civilians that have died also from famine and disease

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Ruud Lubbers, on a visit to Sudan, said on Tuesday his agency was making plans for the return of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees, should a peace agreement be signed as expected before the end of this year. The agency warned that the operation would be one of the "most challenging" of recent times. 
"Once the peace process is concluded, then the real work starts for us," Lubbers said. "UNHCR is looking at how to support the peace agreement once it is signed and is trying to ensure that we are ready to move once this has happened."
Lubbers was in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on the third leg of a four-nation Africa tour that has already taken him to Tanzania and Burundi. In Khartoum, he discussed the prospects for repatriating Sudanese refugees with President Umar Hassan al-Bashir, and on Wednesday was due to travel to southern Sudan to meet Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader John Garang. 
According to a UNHCR statement, Lubbers was "closely watching" progress in the peace talks, currently in recess and due to reopen on 30 November in Naivasha, Kenya. "The last mile in the peace talks should not take too long," Lubbers said. 
Sudan's 20-year conflict has displaced an estimated 4 million people internally, with another 570,000 Sudanese refugees living in neighbouring states as refugees. The bulk of these refugees [about 223,000] live in Uganda, followed by Ethiopia [88,000] and Kenya [69,000m], UNHCR said. 
Bashir told Lubbers he was hopeful that the much-awaited peace agreement between the Khartoum government and the SPLM/A would be signed before the end of the year, and would allow for the return of the millions of Sudanese displaced within and outside the country, the UNHCR statement added. 
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese deputy ambassador in Nairobi, said on Wednesday it was "encouraging to hear that UNHCR was ready to carry out such a large task".  He told IRIN that the signing of the agreement would be followed by a six-year transition period, during which both Sudanese parties were expected to "work out modalities" of the repatriation of refugees and internally displaced people.
"We are supposed to sit together, the government, SPLM/A, countries hosting Sudanese refugees and partners like UNHCR, and prepare for refugees to get back home. But whether this will be finalised at the end of the interim period will remain to be seen," Dirdeiry said. 
UNHCR said it expected to aid the repatriation of up to 110,000 Sudanese refugees during the first year of the return operation to Sudan. It admitted that such a task would be "one of the most challenging in recent times", in view of the level of destruction and the near-total collapse of infrastructure in southern Sudan.

The peace talks to end two decades of civil war in Sudan will resume November 30. The news was referred by Salva Kiir, representative of the delegation of rebels of the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) in Cairo. In the meetings in the Egyptian capital the SPLA delegates met with the Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, inviting him to attend the negotiations due to open at the end of the month in Naivasha (Kenya), not far from the capital Nairobi. Sudan President Omer al Beshir two days ago declared that the next round of talks between his government and rebellion could resume before the established date. The remaining issues to be discussed between the sides are the division of powers, distribution of oil proceeds and control of three regions of Central Sudan, At the end of October, in the presence of US State Secretary Colin Powell, the government of Khartoum and rebels pledged to reach a final accord by December 31. Since 1983 the SPLA has been combating against the Khartoum government for autonomy and independence of the South. The conflict has so far claimed over 2-million lives, for the most part civilians that have died also from famine and disease

10 November: A humanitarian disaster is looming in western Sudan where over half a million people have been displaced by fighting, warns the United Nations. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes in the arid region and militia groups are terrorising the civilian population. The UN complains that humanitarian access is also being restricted by the Sudanese authorities. It says it has only 10% of the funding it wants and needs international help. The UN is also demanding unimpeded access to Darfur, accusing the Sudanese authorities of failing to honour a recent agreement. The fighting in Darfur escalated dramatically in February this year, pitting a local rebel movement against government-backed militias. Observers in Khartoum say it is at heart a conflict over the region's increasingly scarce resources. 

Both the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have said that once a peace agreement has been signed, the return of the country's refugees and internally displaced to their homes will be a key priority. 
Both sides are keen to see people move freely after 36 years of conflict out of 47 since independence.
But for the local authorities, donors, UN