United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, John Holmes, has warned that the 1.2 million refugees in Darfur could be time bombs in terms of armed violence. Thousands of disaffected men are in a typical camp in which weapons are available. Holmes said these refugee camps are at the moment politicized and militarized, which is not an ideal situation and could create serious problems in the near future. The Government of Sudan's military is circling the camps and armed fights could spark off.

"If you have large numbers of people in camps, you have the government of Sudan's military presence in the area, there are bound to be clashes from time to time, and the politicization and militarization on the ground in the camps is a fact of life you can't ignore," Mr Holmes said to BBC News.

Also, a Darfur rebel group said today it seized control of a Sudanese army base some 125 miles from the border with Darfur. Their allegations were denied by the government, which said that rebels actually attacked a police base and they were about to be overcome by the military forces.

The European Union envoy in Sudan Kent Degerfelt and the Canadian charge d'affaires Nuala Lawlor were declared persona non grata and asked to leave the country, just days ago. Both diplomats were accused of interfering in the country’s internal affairs and the Khartoum government decided to expel them. No further details were given despite calls to do so from the EU and Canadian authorities.

A contingent of AU troops has been sent to the region, but were quickly overrun by the conflict’s intensity and number of rebel forces. Approximately 200,000 people were killed and 2.5 million had to leave their homes since the fierce clashes erupted in 2003 between Janjaweed militias and local rebel factions.