Full Coverage: North Africa

31.08.2004 The situation in Darfur and Chad remains critical as the threat of cholera or malaria epidemics rise with the onset of the rainy season, Oxfam warns.

31.08.2004 On a shallow slope between two hills of orange rock and sand, a man's body lies curled in a foetal position. His hands are thrown up as if to protect his face from the bullet that punched a hole in his temple. A few feet away on the bare slope, another man's body lies between two youths. His arms are stretched out to the two younger ones, as if he was embracing them at the moment of death.

31.08.2004 Reports of rape are still rife in Darfur, western Sudan, perpetrators of abuses act with impunity, and civilians are being pressured to return to insecure areas, a UN team visiting the area has said.

30.08.2004 A locally designed pot that keeps food fresher for longer is helping Sudanese farmers sell more fruit and vegetables and make bigger profits.

27.08.2004

Sudanese flag on hut razed by militia in Darfur © Sven Torfinn

Americans can help the people of Darfur by urging the media to cover the atrocities and by letting our government know we care, says Jerry Fowler. Fowler claims that one reason the U.S. government did little while 800,000 Rwandans were murdered in 1994 was because “it didn’t hear much from Americans who cared.”

26.08.2004 At first glance Abshok camp looks like a film set, with its neat lines of white tents pitched on orange sand dunes. But in reality it is home to more than 40,000 refugees with little more than life's basics.

26.08.2004 Rape is a weapon of war in Darfur, says Fidele Lumeya. Its survivors are more most often rejected for being a visible reminder of the shame inflicted on the community by the rape act. The women will be inhibited from acting as full and honored members of society; their prospects for marriage or a happy home life effectively erased forever.

25.08.2004 In observance of the ‘Sudan: Day of Conscience’ this week, a civil society group is urging the U.S. to lead the international community to stop the killing and destruction in Darfur

24.08.2004 Campaigners at Oxfam and Amnesty International are urging Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to do all he can to bring an end to the violence in Darfur, western Sudan. Violence in Darfur has forced over a million people from their homes. Oxfam has welcomed Straw's visit, and Amnesty briefed the Foreign Secretary before he left for Sudan.

24.08.2004 Located in western Sudan, Darfur is the size of Texas and was home to some 36 different ethnic groups with an estimated population of five million. The groups co-existed peacefully for centuries with Arab migrants, each in their own homeland. However recurrent episodes of drought and desertification over the past 30 years have led to increased conflicts between Arab and indigenous groups.

23.08.2004 As the peace talks between the Darfur-based rebel group and the Sudan government begins this week in Nigeria, there are fears that the small contingent of 300 observers who are monitoring the ceasefire may not be able to enforce compliance with an agreement among the parties.

18.08.2004 Sudan Mirror, the first media outlet created exclusively to serve the needs of the people and communities of Southern Sudan, is bracing for the critical test of nation-building. The paper, targeted at Sudan’s literate youth, focuses on the twists of what is proving a tortuous path to peace, as well as the wide range of issues related to it, from post-war reconstruction and conflict resolution to gender issues and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

18.08.2004 Sudan Mirror, the first media outlet created exclusively to serve the needs of the people and communities of Southern Sudan, is bracing for the critical test of nation-building. The paper, targeted at Sudan’s literate youth, focuses on the twists of what is proving a tortuous path to peace, as well as the wide range of issues related to it, from post-war reconstruction and conflict resolution to gender issues and the fight against HIV/AIDS.

12.08.2004 Subsistence conditions for displaced people in Darfur are now described as deplorable. Agencies delivered food aid to only 65 per cent of 1.2 million intended beneficiaries in June. The target figure is rising towards 2 million, with access increasingly difficult due to heavy rains. Reports of intimidation, threats and attacks against refugees, including rapes by the Janjaweed, continue to raise great concern.

11.08.2004 Armed militias are continuing to commit atrocities against civilians in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur despite claims by Khartoum that the situation has improved, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. HRW said that instead of disarming the Janjaweed militias, Khartoum has begun incorporating them into the police force.

11.08.2004 Africa Action is urging the Bush administration to declare the crisis in Darfur genocide because the crimes perpetrated by militias in the region matches the definition in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

11.08.2004

An aid team in Darfur finds the going difficult © Hege Opseth / ACT/ Caritas

For one aid worker, life in El Fasher, a town in northern Darfur, is grim and fragile. It is also a constant reminder of the goodwill of people around the world whose large and small donations make that life possible.

10.08.2004 Amnesty International is calling on the Sudanese government to immediately release all those it has arrested or detained in Darfur for communicating their opinions with foreign visitors about their plight.

09.08.2004 It is now only a matter of time before heavy rains cut off areas in Darfur, putting thousands of people at risk of becoming isolated and without proper access to aid. Meanwhile, aid and peace efforts continue.

09.08.2004 Sudan won help from Arab countries in its attempt to head off sanctions the United Nations has threatened to impose if it fails to rein in militias accused of atrocities in the Darfur region.