The Darfur situation is one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world with an estimated hundreds of thousands people dead by violence, starvation or diseases since the conflict erupted in February 2003 and millions of civilians left homeless. However, the humanitarian situation improved and the mortality rates decreased in Darfur in 2005. Reasons for this were an overall reduction in the intensity of the clashes and an increased humanitarian response from the international community assisting the civilian population with food and other humanitarian assistance.
Armed conflict continued in Darfur through 2005, albeit at a significantly lower level than in late 2003 and 2004. During the year there was an increase in the presence of AMIS (African Union Mission in Sudan) which increased the number of peacekeepers from around 1000 to almost 7000 during the year. During this third year of rebellion in Darfur there was also a consolidation of areas of control by the warring parties and an extensive part of the civilian population had either fled to a neighboring country or was an Internally Displaced Persons in refugee camps. Pressure by the international community increased in 2005 and one result of this was the imposition of an arms embargo by the UN on 30 July 2004. It is possible that the arms embargo had an impact on the deployment of easily observable heavy weapons, but small arms continued to flow into Darfur from neighboring states and other parts of Sudan.
Even though the overall situation was improved throughout 2005 with less armed conflict and improvements within the humanitarian sector, several worrying factors were in existence. One such worrying sign was an increased tendency towards "warlordism", as Darfur slid into a state of lawlessness. An example of this is the increased banditry in the region, including attacks against aid-workers and AU peacekeepers. Another complicating factor (especially for the negotiations) is the...