Five people were killed and seven wounded, including a minister in the south Sudan regional government, when a gunbattle erupted between rival ethnic groups, officials said on Monday.

Sudanese parties on Monday condemned abuses in voter registrations for the first multi-party elections in 24 years set for April, calling for the enrolment period to be extended.

US envoy Scott Gration will return to Khartoum and Darfur this week as part of US diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the region, the State Department said Monday.

The UN Security Council has "strongly condemned" the ongoing attacks and acts of violence of Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in the Great Lakes region of Africa.

Qatar hosted what it billed as the ceremonial launch of Darfur peace talks on Wednesday but neither Sudanese government nor rebel representatives took part.

Forty-seven people were killed in ethnic clashes in south Sudan's Lakes state region, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

Forty-seven people were killed in ethnic clashes in south Sudan's Lakes state region, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

HUAIROU, China (Reuters) - A lack of proficiency in English has been one of the main factors hindering Chinese peacekeeping forces in their missions overseas, officials said on Thursday at a new training center outside Beijing.

Qatari-hosted talks between the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels due to begin on Monday in Doha have again been postponed, a mediator said on Sunday, amid a lingering split in rebel ranks.

There is a "real chance" that the 2011 referendum on the future of South Sudan will lead to a vote for the region to break away from Africa's largest nation, the regional president said on Sunday.

A peacekeeper with the joint United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was killed in an ambush in the western Sudanese region, a senior UNAMID official told AFP on Tuesday.

A peacekeeper with the joint United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was killed in an ambush in the western Sudanese region, a senior UNAMID official told AFP on Tuesday.

A peacekeeper with the joint United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was killed in an ambush in the western Sudanese region, a senior UNAMID official told AFP on Tuesday.

A Nigerian peacekeeper with the joint United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur was killed in an ambush in the western Sudanese region, UNAMID said on Tuesday.

A Nigerian peacekeeper with the joint United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur was killed in an ambush in the western Sudanese region, UNAMID officials said on Tuesday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed and two Kenyan colleagues were wounded in Sudan's troubled Darfur region when armed men ambushed their convoy, the joint U.N./African Union force told Reuters Tuesday.

Report: Sudanese refugee women and girls face rape, violence daily in eastern Chad. Women and girls who fled the fighting in Darfur face rape and other violence daily in eastern Chad, even inside the very refugee camps where they have sought sanctuary, according to a report released Wednesday.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Women who fled violence in Sudan's Darfur region are being regularly raped in refugee camps in neighboring Chad, despite the presence of U.N.-trained forces, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of women who fled unrest in Darfur face the daily threat or rape and violence in refugee camps in neighbouring Chad, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Around 20 Sudanese political parties threatened on Wednesday to boycott next year's elections, the first in more than two decades, unless President Omar al-Beshir implements reforms.