Sources on the ground indicate that the government of Sudan is indiscriminately bombing civilian-occupied villages in rebel-held North Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. The bombing campaign comes as Khartoum is threatening to eject African Union peacekeepers and stymieing efforts to deploy a U.N. force to the region, and should trigger sanctions against senior Sudanese government officials.

Where once the bunkers and razor wire of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping base dominated the plain in front of Tawilla town, now only a small water tower reveals the whereabouts of their camp, swallowed up in a sea of makeshift shelters.

Lasting solutions are needed for the humanitarian problems of gender-based violence, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), a senior United Nations (UN) official said on Tuesday. This would help restore peace and stability to the region, Ibrahima Fall, the Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, said in Nairobi, Kenya, at the opening of a three-day regional conference on peace and security.

A mini-summit of Cote d'Ivoire's main political leaders ended in disagreement after participants failed to reach consensus on preparations for delayed elections aimed at restoring peace in the divided country. "The Yamoussoukro summit has failed," said spokesman for the New Forces rebels, Sidiki Konate, late on Tuesday.

A senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) says peace talks with the Ugandan government could fail if the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not lift indictments against five rebel leaders wanted for crimes against humanity. "The ICC must revoke the indictment," said Vincent Otti, the LRA's second in command, who, with the group's leader, Joseph Kony, and three other commanders, is wanted by the ICC.