The government and rebel movements in Darfur had failed to protect civilians in areas under their control and were violating international human rights and humanitarian law, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan Simar Samar said during a press conference at UNMIS’ Khartoum headquarters on 10 March.

“I received reports of killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention and impunity for such crimes,” said Ms. Samar, who was concluding a visit to the country that began on 27 February and included visits to Port Sudan, Khartoum and Darfur.

New York - The United States has provided 100 million dollars to African countries that will send troops to the joint UN- African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN said Thursday. The US fund was to train and equip soldiers for the UN-African mission in Darfur (UNAMID), whose deployment is severely behind because of a lack of logistics and transport, particularly helicopters. Only about 9,000 of the authorized 30,000 military and civilian personnel of UNAMID have been deployed so far.

Amid the international outrage over the bloodshed in Darfur, frustration has increasingly turned toward China, Sudan's biggest trading partner and international protector, culminating in Steven Spielberg's decision last week to withdraw as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics. And it may be working.

China has begun shifting its position on Darfur, stepping outside its diplomatic comfort zone to quietly push Sudan to accept the world's largest peacekeeping force, diplomats and analysts say. It has also acted publicly, sending engineers to help peacekeepers in Darfur and appointing a special envoy to the region who has toured refugee camps and pressed the Sudanese government to change its policies.

12 February 2007 - Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg withdrew today as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing over China's policy on the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region.