The international group The Elders (aka Global Elders) blasted Sudan over the atrocities they know of in Darfur. They told reporters in the Sudanese capital Khartoum that people in Darfur are in need for immediate and substantial protection, as they are allegedly raped and abused by militias aligned with the Sudanese government.

Carter and three other members of the group brought together by former South African president Nelson Mandela arrived to Darfur Tuesday after meetings with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday, in a bid to solve the four-year conflict.

"Every woman told us, we are raped, we are beaten and we are harassed," told Graca Machel, a women's rights campaigner and wife of Nelson Mandela. The Elders met Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, and held talks with members of the semi-autonomous government in Juba, capital of south Sudan.

The conflict has since spiraled downward, with an ineffective peace agreement, rebel groups splintering and Arab tribes beginning to turn on each other. More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes since 2003.

More than 12 African Union troops were killed and dozens reported missing in Sudan’s strife-torn region Darfur after a bloody attack on a base of the peacekeeping force in late September.

The violence could also complicate plans to deploy a 26,000- member African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur later this year. The president of Senegal says he is considering withdrawing his country's troops from the force, after one of his nation's soldiers was killed in the Haskanita attack.

The Global Elders or The Elders is chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and currently consists of 12 leaders, allegedly including former South African President Nelson Mandela, Sir Richard Branson (who initiated the group), former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus. Their purpose is to "use their political independence to help resolve some of the world's most intractable conflicts."