Full Coverage: North Africa

28.05.2004 Government authorities in southern Sudan are imposing more taxes and tariffs on aid workers for humanitarian relief-related tasks.

28.05.2004 After 21 years of war, and two years of peace negotiations, the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army have taken a major step towards ending their conflict in Sudan through the signing of three peace accords. Despite this, huge challenges remain says Christian Aid.

28.05.2004 The historic peace agreement signed between the government of Sudan and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), officially ends a war that has killed 2 million people. The agreement offers Sudan its best hope for peace in two decades. If observed in letter and spirit, it would allow people to return home and build new lives, free from fear and violence.

26.05.2004 As more refugees pour into camps in northern Darfur and across the border in Chad, the UN now estimates that at least two million people have been displaced by fighting and insecurity in Sudan.

26.05.2004 The First Preparatory Meeting of the Phase 2 of WSIS will be held in Hammamet, Tunisia, from June 24 to 26, the International Telecommunication Union has announced. Representatives of the United Nations agencies, governments, civil society organisations and private institutions are expected to attend this high-level meeting.

26.05.2004 Hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur do not have access to clean water, UNICEF has warned. Despite having doubled the numbers of people in recent weeks with available safe drinking water in Darfur, an estimated 700,000 conflict-affected people are still without which poses a grave health risk.

17.05.2004 Amid reports of continuing violations by government-backed Arab militias of a cease-fire in the western Darfur province of Sudan, the number of independent voices calling for the international intervention to prevent a major humanitarian disaster is growing.

14.05.2004 The figures for registered Darfur refugees in Chad quadrupled between the end of March and middle of May, putting a strain on the budget and efforts of relief agencies.

14.05.2004 Farmers speak their minds in front of video cameras and thus help the local government in taking decisions on land disputes. In this highland of Arsaal, Lebanon, it seems new media will help end the decade-long friction among local people.

14.05.2004 Jere Maluk's fading memories of home are riddled with scars of war. Under the twilight gleaming through the window of his austere Cairo flat, he murmurs how his once serene village of Juba in southern Sudan began to crack under the pressure of civil warfare.

13.05.2004 The UN estimates that the conflict in Darfur has led to up to one million people being displaced within the region and more than 110,000 to flee into neighbouring Chad. Human Rights Watch describes the ongoing killings and human rights violations as crimes against humanity, with government-allied militias looting and burning down villages and killing and attacking civilians against a backdrop of impunity. Conflict in the North has resulted in a big number of villages being destroyed, burned or abandoned due to fear of attacks.

12.05.2004 Les conditions dans lesquelles vivent les réfugiés au Tchad sont devenues tellement déplorables que la faim et la maladie mettent sévèrement en danger la vie de dizaines de milliers de gens, avertit MSF. La malnutrition est en constante augmentation, les camps sont surpeuplés, les réserves d'eau et de nourriture sont insuffisantes et de nombreux réfugiés restent sous la menace d'attaques transfrontalières violentes par des milices soudanaises. Les personnes qui ont cherché refuge au Tchad ont fui le climat d'extrême violence et les massacres qui sévissent dans la province du Darfour, au Soudan, une région où une mobilisation massive de l'aide humanitaire est également nécessaire de toute urgence.

10.05.2004 Officials at the World Food Programme are denying allegations that they are ignoring the rights of Angola and Sudan to reject GM food aid.

07.05.2004 WASHINGTON, D.C., May 7 (OneWorld) - The Sudanese government is guilty of "ethnic cleansing" and crimes against humanity, according to a new report released Friday by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which called on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution to permit the safe return of more than one million people forced from their homes in the Darfur region of the country.

07.05.2004 The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, western Sudan, will worsen dramatically unless the security situation there improves immediately and relief workers can reach needy people in the region more easily, the United Nations has warned.

06.05.2004 Secretary of State for International Development Hilary Benn has announced a new commitment of up to £10million for humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region of Sudan.

05.05.2004 The U.S. delegation to the United Nations Economic and Social Council walked out of a meeting Tuesday to protest the re-election of Sudan to the UN Human Rights Commission.

05.05.2004 Child labour has its roots all over the world, its explanation equally universal. This 1999 report showed that over 5% of the children in Morocco are pushed to work for reasons such as poverty, large families, inadequate education, and globalization which creates demand for inexpensive labour in industries such as textiles and leather.

05.05.2004 With violence still continuing, a food crisis now threatens more than a million people displaced by the armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

04.05.2004 Refugees who recently arrived the northeastern town of Korfou in Chad report that militias and government troops poisoned wells with carcasses of animals, lending support to U.S. and UN allegations of ethnic cleansing.