Full Coverage: North Africa

30.04.2004 The strong prospect for peace in Sudan has been dealt a severe blow by the devastating conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, says Christian Aid. Whilst these attacks continue, government leaders and the main southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), have been negotiating a peace settlement in Kenya and are expected to reach agreement in the summer. However, as the devastating conflict in Darfur indicates, the war in Sudan is much more complex than north versus south - there are numerous conflicts which must be resolved if peace is to become a reality for all the Sudanese people.

29.04.2004 The Sudanese government is stalling the entrance of U.S. relief workers to the Darfur region pending the onset of the rainy season in June. Weather conditions will make it even harder to deliver humanitarian aid after June.

29.04.2004 The International Federation of Journalists has called on the Sudanese
government to immediately lift repressive measures against foreign press
coverage of the unfolding disaster in the west of the country where
thousands of civilians have reportedly been massacred in a drama reminiscent
of the Rwanda crisis ten years ago.

28.04.2004 Barely days after the U.S. lifted all sanctions against his country, Libya's Muammar Gadaffi is meeting with the European Commission President and the Belgian Prime Minister in Brussels this week. Experts on Middle East affairs trace his journey back to the international arena and why leaders of western nations are pleased about it.

27.04.2004 Le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU, réuni ce matin en consultations à huis clos sur la situation au Sahara occidental, est saisi du dernier rapport du Secrétaire général, Kofi Anan, sur la question dans lequel celui-ci lui fait part de la réponse du Maroc, qui est disposé à accepter l'une des options prévues par le Plan de paix, soit l'autonomie, mais opposé à l'indépendance du territoire.

27.04.2004 Amnesty international has released a new report detailing the organisations findings on its first visit to Libya 15 years ago. The report -- released on the day of Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi's visit to the European Commission in Brussels, his first to Europe in 15 years -- reveals a pattern of on-going human rights violations, a continuing failure to investigate and resolve past abuses, and a climate of fear in which most Libyans are afraid to raise concerns over current and past violations.

27.04.2004 Libya needs a comprehensive programme of reform to address human rights concerns, warns Amnesty International in a new report. The Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi made his first visit to Europe in 15 years on 26 April.

26.04.2004 Defense experts believe that chances that nuclear security procedures will be breached are higher in Pakistan, because of the problem of Islamic fundamentalism, than in North Korea or Libya where the risk of political destabilization are lower. The Bush administration's counter proliferation policy is more lenient on Pakistan than the latter two countries, and analysts argue that the implication is that the U.S. is penalizing the wrong states.

26.04.2004 Un rapporto di Human Right Watch documenta decine di attacchi delle milizie arabe Janjaweed sostenute dall'esercito governativo di Khartoum. "La pulizia etnica nel Darfur ha già ucciso 30mila persone e causato 900mila sfollati'' - afferma l'ambasciatore USA Richard Williamson davanti alla Commissione per i diritti umani dell'Onu. Ma la dichiarazione della Commissione Onu non ne parla.

23.04.2004 In Sudan, where one of the world's worst human rights crises is unfolding, no news has become bad news. While government-supported Arab militias wage what the UN calls a "scorched earth" campaign against an estimated 870,000 people, most of them civilians, Sudanese authorities have imposed a news blackout, report Human Rights Watch and Reporters sans frontiers.

22.04.2004 The Bush administration is due to report to the U.S. Congress this month on the situation in Sudan as required by the Sudan Peace Act. There are already indications that in spite of the impasse in the peace talks and the rising number of internally displaced persons in Darfur, the administration will not impose sanctions on the government of Sudan.

22.04.2004 The UK government is at risk of undermining its arms policy by pushing for the lifting of the EU arms embargo on Libya, Oxfam has said. The embargo lift is part of a package of measures designed to reward Libya for abandoning its WMD programmes.

20.04.2004 The 45-day ceasefire in Western Sudan will be monitored by a team of military observers from Ghana, Senegal, Namibia and Nigeria as peace negotiations start this week.

15.04.2004 One week into the ceasefire agreement aimed at halting the 15-month conflict in Sudan, there are increasing doubts about its effectiveness because it does not make any provision for a mechanism to monitor the Sudanese government's compliance.

13.04.2004 UN staff and aid workers say they have received credible reports that the atrocities commited by militias in Sudan are aimed at forceful depopulation of towns and villages occupied by Darfur's black Africans.

08.04.2004 With Rwanda in mind, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has raised the possibility of sending international force to stop the violence in Sudan that has worsened sharply in recent months as government-backed militia attack civilians from targeted ethnic groups.

08.04.2004 WASHINGTON, D.C., Apr 8 (OneWorld) -- Pressure on the National Islamic Front (NIF) government of Sudan to immediately cease military activities in the western state of Darfur and open the region to relief shipments for hundreds of thousands of displaced people has grown sharply in recent days with strong statements issued by both the White House and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

08.04.2004 Four UN human rights experts have begun an emergency 10-day mission in Sudan to investigate claims by a senior UN official of "ethnic cleansing" in the western Darfur region. According to relief agencies, tens of thousands of refugees have fled to escape attacks from militias and government troops.

07.04.2004 UNITED NATIONS, Apr 6 (IPS) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has admitted he could have done more to stop the genocide of about 800,000 Rwandans exactly 10 years ago, says he is determined to prevent a similar tragedy in the future.

05.04.2004 Reflecting the growing urgency of what international observers are calling a desperate situation in western Sudan, Human Rights Watch charged in a new report released today that the The National Islamic Front government is complicit in crimes against humanity committed by government-backed Arab militias Darfur.