The dire situation in Darfur dates back to March 2003 when the predominantly Muslim militants of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) started attacking government forces and installations in the western region of Sudan.
The militants accused the government of President Omar Hassan El-Bashir of neglecting the region and oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs in the state of Darfur. About 60 per cent of the people in the area are subsistence farmers, with the rest being nomadic or semi-nomadic herders.
The government, caught by surprise by the militants' attacks, had very few troops in the region. In response, it mounted a campaign of aerial bombardment in support of ground attacks by an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, that it had recruited from local tribes.
The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people, and more than 150,000 have fled to neighbouring Chad. Aid officials estimate a million people have been displaced from their homes.
The World Health Organization has warned that a major health catastrophe could erupt if the necessary funds and supplies are not made available to fight disease and malnutrition in the region. The United Nations describes Darfur as the "worst humanitarian crisis" in the world.
Here is a timeline of events since fighting began:
July 18, 2004: The SLA and JEM leave peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, refusing to negotiate unless the Sudanese government agrees to leave Darfur and to disarm the Arab Janjaweed militias. Talks, brokered by the UN and the African Union, begin on July 15, 2004, but degenerate into a shouting match.
July 14, 2004: Aid organization Oxfam warns of the "spectre of disease" and a cholera or malaria outbreak at refugee camps in Chad where heavy rains and limited toilet facilities have caused rapid deterioration in the camps.
July 12, 2004: The government sends a 1,025-strong police force to Darfur to maintain security, law and order, and to "uphold the sense of nationhood." Its main tasks are to protect refugee camps, set up security checkpoints along the border with Chad and safeguard roads for the return of refugees. Eventually, the force will number 6,000 and include medics and traffic and riot police.
July 9, 2004: United Nations Commission on Human Rights says Arab militias, with links to the government, have destroyed food and water resources in the Jabal Marrah area in West Darfur, Sudan. The UNHCR says humanitarian organizations are still being denied access to the most affected areas.
July 7, 2004: The UN Security Council threatens to impose an arms embargo and a travel ban against Sudan unless the government takes measures to end the Darfur conflict. The council says it will start reviewing the proposal in late July.
July 5, 2004: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ends his official visit to Sudan and warns of "catastrophic levels" of suffering. Annan pledges UN help for a ceasefire.
July 2, 2004: U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell ends a two-day visit to Sudan and tells the Khartoum government that it can only expect normalization of relations with the U.S. if it makes immediate efforts to rein in the Arab militias in Darfur.
late June 2004: Aid organizations warn of mass rapes of women by Arab militia and of a new generation of displaced children.
June 24, 2004: American officials warn of genocide. "I can tell you that we see indicators of genocide and there is evidence that points in that direction," said Pierre Prosper, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes. Prosper said the U.S. government was "actively reviewing" the possibility that genocide was taking place in the Darfur region.
June 18, 2004: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan names former Dutch environment minister Jan Pronk as the UN's special envoy in Sudan
June 15, 2004: UN officials say every fifth child in the Darfur region is acutely undernourished. Many have dysentery, measles and high fever. Children in refugee camps are dying every day from starvation and exhaustion.
May 26, 2004: The Sudanese government and rebels from Darfur agree on sending the first international observers to the region. Eventually, up to 120 observers from the European Union, the U.S., the Sudanese government, the rebel movements and the Chadian mediators are deployed in Darfur.
May 24, 2004: A ceasefire agreement, brokered six weeks earlier, is broken as the government and the rebel factions blame each other for an attack killing 45 people in a village south of the state capital of Nyala.
May 2004: A UN human rights report says the Sudanese government and the Arab Janjaweed militias, who have been recruited by the government, have conducted a "reign of terror" in Darfur against the region's black African population. The report finds many human rights violations, including killings, rapes, pillaging, destruction of property and ethnic displacement.
April 9, 2004: The Sudanese government and the rebels sign a ceasefire, also agreeing to the deployment of African Union observers. The 45-day ceasefire will allow humanitarian assistance to reach several hundred thousand people affected by the fighting. The ceasefire is due to come into force on April 11.
April 2, 2004: Jan Egeland, of the UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief section, warns of a co-ordinated "scorched earth" campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Arab militias against Darfur's black African population.
March 2004: UN names Darfur the worst humanitarian situation in the world.
January 2004: Sudan sends its army to Darfur, causing thousands more to seek refuge in neighbouring Chad. The fighting escalates.
Dec. 23, 2003: UN High Commissioner for Refugees unveils plans to build safe camps in Chad away from the Sudanese border where refugee camps are being attacked. Almost 100,000 refugees are now in Chad.
Early December 2003: A fresh round of attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias-including the burning of villages, and murder and rape of civilians-prompts thousands of new refugees to stream into Chad.
Oct. 7, 2003: The UN High Commissioner for Refugees appeals for $16.6 million US to help Sudanese refugees in Chad.
Sept. 4, 2003: The SLA and the government reach a ceasefire agreement. As part of the deal, the Sudanese government frees 54 prisoners suspected of being SLA members and agrees to address the rebels' complaint that the Darfur region is underdeveloped. Both sides soon accuse the other of breaking the agreement.
April 2003: Refugees begin arriving in eastern Chad to escape the conflict that erupts after members of the SLA and JEM begin attacking government forces and installations in the Darfur region of Sudan.
