February 2003 – Two anti-government groups rise up, saying Khartoum neglects arid region and arms Arab militia against civilians.
January 2004 – The army moves to quell uprising in western region of Darfur; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to neighbouring Chad.
March 2004 – UN says pro-government Janjawid militias are carrying out systematic killings of African villagers in Darfur.
April 2004 – Government, Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) fighters agree on ceasefire.
September 2004 – UN says Sudan had not met targets for disarming pro-government militias and must accept outside help to protect civilians. Colin Powell, US secretary of state, describes Darfur killings as genocide.
January 2005 – UN report accuses the government and militias of systematic abuses in Darfur, but stops short of calling the violence genocide.
March 2005 – UN Security Council authorises sanctions against those who violate ceasefire in Darfur. Council also votes to refer those accused of war crimes in Darfur to International Criminal Court.
May 2006 – Khartoum government and the main anti-government faction in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement, sign a peace accord. Rival SLA faction and the smaller Jem reject the deal.
August 2006 – Sudan rejects UN Resolution 1706 calling for a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, saying it would compromise Sudanese sovereignty.
September 2006 – Sudan says African Union troops must leave Darfur when their mandate expires at the end of the month, raising fears that the region would descend into full-blown war.
Activists rally in major cities around the world calling on Sudan to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur.
October 2006 – Jan Pronk, the UN’s most senior official in Sudan, is expelled.
November 2006 – African Union extends mandate of its peacekeeping force in Darfur for another six months.
December 2006 – Sudan agrees in principle to accept the deployment of UN troops in Darfur as part of an expanded peacekeeping force.
February 2007 – International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor names first two war crimes suspects in Darfur. Sudan says the ICC has no jurisdiction and rejects arrest warrants.
