The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday dissolved a group of experts tasked with monitoring abuses in the Darfur region after demands from African countries to ease political pressure on Sudan.
Sudan has still not agreed to non-African troops or unrestricted night flights for the new 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur that is expected to take over on Jan. 1, a senior U.N. official said Thursday.
The U.N. special envoy for Darfur toured the tribal heartland of the region's top rebel on Saturday, trying to draw the reluctant chief's followers into new peace talks that have stalled since October.
European nations look unlikely to meet an urgent U.N. call to provide military helicopters for a peacekeeping force planned for Darfur, saying their armies are already stretched by missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and other hot spots.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Thursday that a new peacekeeping force for Darfur could fail unless it gets 24 critically needed helicopters and he appealed to all countries for help.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced Wednesday he was opening an investigation against Sudanese government officials for what he called systematic attacks on refugee camps in Darfur.
Veteran statesmen including former President Jimmy Carter appealed Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire in Darfur and called on the Sudanese government to drop all obstacles to the deployment of a U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force.
Actress Mia Farrow launched a fund to support survivors of the fighting in Sudan's Darfur region Sunday, and said that the jailing of a British teacher in the African nation showed the cruelty of its leadership.
Darfur's peacekeeping force will start in January with less than half the troops initially promised and without key equipment, the force's commander warned Saturday.
A Chad rebel group on Friday declared a "state of war" against French and other foreign armies, an apparent warning to a European force that will soon deploy to protect refugees fleeing violence in neighboring Darfur.
The Sudanese government is throwing up numerous obstacles to the deployment of a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force for Darfur which could destroy the effectiveness of the joint U.N.-African Union mission, the U.N. peacekeeping chief warned Tuesday.
A joint peacekeeping force planned for Darfur remains threatened by political deadlock and a shortage of equipment, the head of U.N. peacekeeping said Wednesday.
European Union defense ministers reiterated their commitment Monday to sending troops to help Darfur refugees, but a lack of helicopters was holding up deployment of a force that should have been on the ground by now.
A joint peacekeeping force will not be prepared to take over in Darfur by the start of 2008 unless Sudan quickly accepts units from outside Africa and contributing countries offer critical equipment, a top U.N. official warned Wednesday.
A prominent doctor who treats displaced people in Darfur says the Sudanese government is risking the deaths of hundreds of thousands by forcing people out of the camps where they receive humanitarian aid.
Negotiations between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels have been postponed until December, the spokesman for the government delegation to the stalled peace talks said Thursday.
Sudanese officials have been pressuring people to leave refugee camps in its wartorn Darfur province in recent weeks, and United Nations officials say the regime has even forcibly loaded some civilians onto trucks to clear them out.
Key rebel leaders in Sudan's Darfur region called Monday for a peace conference to be canceled, but U.N. and African mediators bid for more time in hopes of drawing the insurgents into the stalled talks.
President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday condemned an attempt by a French group to spirit more than 100 children out of Chad on the grounds that they were orphans from Darfur in danger of being killed.
Crippled by the absence of key rebel leaders, a highly anticipated Darfur peace conference was effectively postponed Sunday to give rebel delegates time to prepare before direct negotiations with the Sudanese government.
Sudan's government committed to a cease-fire in Darfur at the start of peace talks Saturday, but mediators and journalists outnumbered the few rebels who did not boycott the U.N.-sponsored negotiations, reducing hopes for an end to the fighting.
The Sudanese government committed to an immediate cease-fire in Darfur at the opening of peace talks on Saturday, but the expected announcement was not met by similar pledges from rebels, who largely boycotted the U.N.-brokered negotiations.
Seven crew members of a plane contracted to fly more than 100 children out of Chad were detained, authorities said Saturday, and Chad's president promised punishment for anyone involved in a plan to spirit the children to Europe.
Two major Darfur rebel groups said Friday they plan to boycott upcoming peace talks, a major blow to negotiations the U.N. hoped could reach a new agreement for the Sudanese region torn by years of fighting.
President Idriss Deby said attempts by a group of French citizens to fly more than 100 African children out of Chad were "shocking," and promised that all those found involved would be punished.