Violence by pro-government Janjaweed militias against refugees in the western Darfur region of Sudan has prompted international outcry by rights groups and world leaders, widespread pressure on the government of Sudan, US condemnations of "genocide" and an ongoing war crimes investigation by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. This timeline traces developments in the Darfur crisis from mid-2004 to date...

July 19, 2004: Amnesty International releases a report saying that Sudan's pro-government militias are using mass rape as a weapon in the conflict in Darfur, also accusing the Sudanese government of supporting militia attacks.

July 30, 2004: The United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution threatening economic consequences for Sudan if it does not disarm Arab militias blamed for widespread atrocities in the western Darfur region of the country.

August 2, 2004: A spokesman for the Sudanese army calls last week's UN Security Council resolution on the Darfur situation a "declaration of war on the Sudan and its people" and vowed to "confront the enemies of the Sudan on land, sea and air."

August 5, 2004: A Sudanese police chief says that Khartoum will start disarming Arab militias in the Darfur region next week, as mandated by the recent UN Security Council resolution.

August 10, 2004: Amnesty International releases a statement that Darfuri civilians are regularly being imprisoned or harassed by Sudanese authorities for talking to foreigners about the Darfur conflict.

August 14, 2004: According to a UN report, police sent by the Sudanese government to restore security in the troubled Darfur region are sexually abusing and exploiting women.

September 10, 2004: Sudan's foreign minister rejects US claims that the crisis in the Darfur region of the country should be considered genocide. Mustafa Osman Ismail says the US is trying to divert attention from Iraq with the announcement.

September 15, 2004: Peace talks between Sudanese rebels and the government break off after three weeks of little progress.

September 18, 2004: The UN Security Council approves a resolution threatening oil sanctions against Sudan unless the government takes steps to defuse the conflict in the Darfur region.

September 19, 2004: The Sudanese embassy in Washington states that the country will abide by UN Security Council resolution 1564 threatening sanctions on Sudan's vital oil industry unless security is restored to the Darfur region, "even though [the resolution] was unfair and unjust to the Sudan," according to the independent Al-Sahafa newspaper.

September 25, 2004: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour charges the Sudanese government with downplaying the severity of the sexual abuse being endured by women in the Darfur region.

September 28, 2004: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour says in an address to the UN Commission on Human Rights that the UN needs to "massively increase" its presence in the Darfur region of Sudan to help protect non-Arab villagers in the region.

October 7, 2004: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan names a five-member panel created to investigate possible war crimes occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.

October 20, 2004: The UN reports that crimes by pro-government Janjaweed militias in the Darfur region of Sudan are continuing. Radhia Achouri, spokeswoman for Jan Pronk, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's envoy to Sudan, says rape cases are in the hundreds and are still increasing.

October 24, 2004: A day after it pledges $100 million to the African Union's peacekeeping efforts in Sudan, the EU expresses its concern over repeated breaches of the cease-fire agreement in Darfur and urges the Sudanese government to unilaterally sign protocols to allow access for aid.

October 25, 2004: The African Union-hosted peace talks on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur begin in the Nigerian capital city of Abuja. This is the second round of talks hosted by the AU; the first round ended with no agreement being reached concerning the crisis.

November 9, 2004: A UN-appointed commission of inquiry begins its work to determine whether acts of genocide have occurred in Sudan's Darfur region.

Also, the Sudanese government and Darfur rebels reach an agreement which would stop hostilities and guarantee aid groups' access to 1.6 million civilians uprooted by war in the troubled western Sudan region of Darfur.

November 15, 2004: Human Rights Watch calls on the UN Security Council to act quickly to end ethnic cleansing in Sudan's Darfur region, requesting an arms embargo and travel sanctions on Sudanese officials for their failure to disarm the Janjaweed militias.

December 24, 2004: President Bush signs a bill into law that permits the imposition of US sanctions on Sudan in response to the violence in Darfur, which the US has on several occasions characterized as genocide.

December 31, 2004: The government of Sudan and anti-government rebels in the south of the country sign the final parts of a peace deal ending some 21 years of war in the oil-rich region. The deal fulfills a commitment made to the UN Security Council to resolve the conflict by the end of 2004, but does not directly affect the situation in Sudan's western Darfur region.

January 27, 2005: Senior African Union officials report that the Sudanese government bombed a Darfur village, with NGO workers present for the first time to actually witness the explosions.

February 1, 2005: Members of Sudan's National Assembly unanimously approve a peace deal with Darfur rebels designed to end more than two decades of conflict between Khartoum and the southern region of the country.

February 2, 2005: A European Union spokesperson says that the EU supports the UN proposal to try those suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur at the International Criminal Court.

February 4, 2005: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan formally reports to the Security Council on the finding of the special UN commission on the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan.

February 8, 2005: Sudan's vice president maintains his government's opposition to any international criminal trials for war crimes committed in the Darfur region during a meeting with the UN Security Council.

March 7, 2005: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls an emergency, closed-door session of the UN Security Council to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Darfur region of Sudan, as well as the proposed deployment of over 10,000 UN peacekeeping troops to the country.

March 17, 2005: Nigeria, acting on behalf of the African Union, proposes the creation of an African war crimes tribunal that would prosecute alleged human rights violations and war crimes in Sudan. The proposal was directed to the European Union, whose members have traditionally favored sending the Sudan situation to the International Criminal Court.

March 23, 2005: France and the United States disagree in the UN Security Council over which court should try war criminals from the Darfur region of Sudan. France, along with eight of the other 15 Security Council members, favors the new International Criminal Court in The Hague; the US favors the creation of a special tribunal based in Tanzania.

March 24, 2005: The UN Security Council unanimously votes to send over 10,000 peacekeepers to Sudan in an effort to monitor the peace deal intended to end the 21-year civil war.

March 27, 2005: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail says that Sudan would reject any UN resolution calling for the prosecution of Sudanese nationals suspected of war crimes in a court abroad.

March 28, 2005: Sudanese justice minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin announces that 15 Sudanese military officials are arrested and accused of human rights offenses, marking the first arrests of government officials in connection with the Darfur violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the past two years.

March 31, 2005: Following a marathon UN Security Council session, the US abstains from voting on a draft resolution authorizing the International Criminal Court to prosecute war crimes cases in Darfur, Sudan, effectively allowing the ICC to have jurisdiction.

April 1, 2005: Sudan announces its displeasure with UN Security Council Resolution 1593 that authorizes the ICC to investigate and prosecute war crimes violations in Sudan.

April 5, 2005: Tens of thousands of Sudanese demonstrators gather at UN headquarters and US and UK embassies in Khartoum to protest the recently approved UN resolution turning Sudanese war crimes trials over to the ICC.

May 11, 2005: Musa Hilal, suspected leader of the Janjaweed militia active in the Darfur, says that he would stand trial in Sudan rather than face trial outside the country.

June 6, 2005: The ICC announces the opening of its investigation into reports of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan after the UN Security Council referred the Darfur situation to it earlier in the year.

June 7, 2005: Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail tells reporters that the Sudan government is not planning to challenge the recently announced probe into Darfur by the International Criminal Court.

June 12, 2005: Sudan officials announce that the nation will set up its own court to investigate and prosecute crimes committed during the uprising in Darfur.

June 15, 2005: ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo tells reporters that the court will support Sudan in any genuine effort to prosecute suspects in the Darfur uprising.

June 22, 2005: The first ten men to be tried in Sudan for atrocities committed in the volatile Darfur region all plead not guilty.

June 29, 2005: Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo of the ICC tells the UN Security Council that the ICC's preliminary investigation into the situation in Darfur begun June 1 had already revealed "a significant amount of credible information disclosing the commission of grave crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court having taken place in Darfur...".

June 30, 2005: Ali Mohammed Osman Yassin, Sudan's justice minister, rejects calls for the extradition of 10 suspects to face charges for war crimes in Darfur before the the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

July 11, 2005: Following the adoption of a peace treaty, the approval of a new constitution, and the installation of a new government, newly-reappointed Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir lifts the country's state of emergency, except in Darfur and a region on the eastern border.

July 29, 2005: A new report prepared at the instance of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights criticizes the Sudanese government for its inaction in allowing sexual violence in the turbulent Darfur region to continue and for the lack of prosecutions against government supported forces accused in the attacks.

August 17, 2005: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan accuses Sudanese rebels of taking part in kidnappings, extortions and thefts, causing the already unstable Darfur region to become even more lawless.

October 23, 2005: The UN's special rapporteur for human rights, Dr. Sima Samar, says that organized sexual violence against women is continuing in Darfur and the Sudanese government is doing nothing to prevent it.

November 17, 2005: A court created by Sudan to try war-crimes suspects for atrocities committed in the Darfur region of the country sentences two soldiers to death for the killing of a Sudanese citizen.

December 12, 2005: Human Rights Watch calls on the UN Security Council to sanction Sudanese President Omar El Bashir and other senior Sudanese government officials for complicity in crimes against humanity.

January 25, 2006: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres calls on the UN Security Council to create a UN peacekeeping force for the Darfur region of Sudan.

January 30, 2006: The Sudanese government criticizes a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights report which sharply condemned the human rights condition in Darfur.

February 14, 2006: Sudan police arrest five Sudanese human rights activists in the Darfur region and beat and arrest several Sudanese students who were rioting on the Juba University campus in Northern Khartoum, according to Amnesty International.

February 20, 2006: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir says again that his country refuses to extradite any Sudanese citizens for prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

February 21, 2006: Sudan issues a formal protest to the UN Envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, over his lobbying for a UN peacekeeping force in the Darfur region, and rejects the growing call for the African Union to hand over control of the current peacekeeping mission to a fully international force.

March 5, 2006: The Sudanese government threatens to withdraw from the African Union if a proposed takeover of the AU's peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region by the UN goes into effect.

March 14, 2006: The UN Security Council expresses its approval of the African Union decision to extend the AU peacekeeping force mandate for Darfur by six months.

March 31, 2006: US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy urges greater attention to reports of genocide in Sudan's Darfur region in a speech to the annual meeting of the American Society of International Law in Washington.

April 25, 2006: The UN Security Council passes a resolution 12-0 imposing sanctions on four individuals for acts or abuses committed in the troubled Darfur region of Sudan and calling for the conclusion of a peace agreement for the area by the end of the month.

April 30, 2006: The Sudanese government says that it is ready to formally accept the peace deal mediated by the African Union for the war-torn region of Darfur.

May 8, 2006: A Sudanese government official denies reports that Sudan would accept UN peacekeepers in the Darfur region as inaccurate and unfounded.

May 16, 2006: The UN Security Council unanimously passes a resolution that accelerates planning for a UN peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region.

May 23, 2006: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that Sudanese trade embargoes in the volatile Darfur region "have prevented the access of civilians to vital goods and constitute a violation of international humanitarian law."

June 14, 2006: Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the ICC, tells the UN Security Council that his investigation into crimes against humanity in Darfur has documented thousands of killings of civilians, large scale massacres, and hundreds of rapes that he anticipates will result in multiple cases rather than a single proceeding.

June 15, 2006: Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed al-Mardi insists that the ICC does not have jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed in the volatile Darfur region, saying that Sudanese officials will not submit to questioning by ICC prosecutors in their investigation into crimes against humanity in Darfur.

August 28, 2006: An increase in Sudanese troops in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan could lead to a new human rights crisis there, Amnesty International warns as the UN Security Council prepares to consider a proposal to deploy 20,000 UN troops to the area.

September 1, 2006: The UN Security Council passes a resolution authorizing the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops to the Darfur region of Sudan under the authority of the current UN Mission in the Sudan.

October 7, 2006: Sudan Ambassador to the UN Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem disputes the latest report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the UN Security Council on ongoing violations of human rights in country's Darfur region, claiming that many of the alleged violations were "fabricated" by partial non-governmental organizations.

October 9, 2006: Militia attacks in Sudan's Darfur region may have killed hundreds of people in August, many more than previously thought, according to a report issued by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour.

November 11, 2006: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour warns that continued movements by armed militias in the western region of Darfur will lead to more atrocities against ethnic African civilians.

December 13, 2006: The UN Human Rights Council approves a resolution to send a mission to Sudan to investigate human rights abuses in Darfur.

February 12, 2007: A Sudanese Foreign Ministry official says that Sudan will prevent a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation team from entering the country unless the UN agrees to replace team member Bertrand Ramcharan.

February 14, 2007: A UN Human Rights Council investigatory team cancels a scheduled trip to the Darfur region of Sudan after Sudanese officials again refused to grant a visa to a team member.

February 23, 2007: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Jakob Kellenberger tells reporters that all sides of the conflict in the Sudan are violating international humanitarian law.

February 27, 2007: Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the ICC, asks a panel of ICC judges to issue summonses for two top suspects accused of committing war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, in the first action taken against individuals in the ICC's ongoing investigation of the Darfur situation.

March 8, 2007: The Sudanese trial of Ali Kushayb, one of the two suspects accused by the ICC of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region, and two other security officials is delayed after Kushayb filed an appeal in the case, Sudanese court officials say.

March 12, 2007: A UN Human Rights Council investigative team releases a report saying the citizens of Darfur need immediate protection against war crimes, blaming the government of Sudan for many of the atrocities taking place there.

March 13, 2007: Sudan attempts to prevent the UN Human Rights Council from considering the report by a UNHRC team sent to investigate conditions in Darfur. The report calls for immediate protection of victims in the region.

March 22, 2007: Sudan suspends the work of 52 NGOs working in Darfur after allegations that they were not complying with regulations.

March 30, 2007: The UN Human Rights Council passes a resolution calling on Sudan to allow a group of rights experts to visit the Darfur region.

April 5, 2007: The England and Wales Court of Appeals rules that three Africans formerly living in Darfur could be granted asylum in the UK, overruling a decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

April 6, 2007: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights releases two reports detailing alleged rapes and disappearances carried out by militia soldiers in the Darfur region at the end of 2006.

April 8, 2007: Sudanese Justice Minister Mohammed Ali al-Mardi says that his government will investigate the UN reports detailing alleged rapes and disappearances carried out by militia soldiers in Darfur at the end of 2006.

May 2, 2007: The International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for two top suspects accused of committing war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

May 11, 2007: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says Sudan may have violated international law by conducting "indiscriminate and disproportionate" air attacks in late April on at least five Darfur villages.

June 29, 2007: Humanitarian group Refugees International releases a report documenting flaws in Sudanese law that leave rapists unpunished and allow for the prosecution of rape victims for sex outside marriage. Rape is described by Refugees International as being "one of the hallmarks" of the conflict in Darfur.

July 12, 2007: The Sudanese government defends its handling of military and police personnel allegedly involved in human rights abuses in Darfur before the UN Human Rights Committee, as well as a proposed Darfur peace accord which contains an amnesty agreement.

July 27, 2007: The UN Human Rights Committee urges the Sudanese government to "take all appropriate measures" to guarantee that all state agents discontinue "widespread and systematic" violations of human rights and to cooperate with the International Criminal Court to "ensure that all human rights violations brought to its attention are investigated" and prosecuted.

August 22, 2007: Sudan issues a decree abolishing legal immunities that protect police from criminal prosecution, putting an end to a policy that rights groups say has allowed rapes, kidnappings, and murders perpetrated by government-aligned militias in Darfur to go unpunished.

October 14, 2007: Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno-Ocampo calls on citizens worldwide to pressure their governments to help apprehend Sudanese war crimes suspects in Darfur.

December 5, 2007: ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asks the UN Security Council to press Sudan to execute outstanding arrest warrants against two Sudanese men accused of crimes against humanity in Darfur. (Monitor has video.)

December 7, 2007: Sudanese officials dismiss as politically motivated the latest report from the ICC condemning Sudan for failing to arrest crimes against humanity suspects and accusing the government of continuing to commit crimes in Darfur.

December 15, 2007: The UN Human Rights Council votes to end the mandate of a group of seven human rights experts tasked with monitoring the rights situation in Darfur, following demands by several African countries that political pressure on Sudan be eased.

December 31, 2007: President Bush signs a bill intended to pressure Sudan to stop the violence in Darfur by allowing US states and local governments to sever investment links to Sudan.

January 21, 2008: HRW condemns the appointment of a suspected Janjaweed militia leader as an advisor to Sudan's Ministry of Federal Affairs.

March 27, 2008: The UN Human Rights Council passes a resolution urging Sudan to address human rights violations and to prosecute perpetrators of rights abuses.

April 26, 2008: ICC Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo calls on Sudan to arrest and surrender Ahmed Muhammad Harun and Ali Kushayb, war crimes suspects wanted by the ICC.

June 4, 2008: ICC Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo reports to the UN Security Council that top Sudanese officials have been intimately involved in the planning, execution, and cover-up of atrocities in the Darfur region.

June 17, 2008: The UN Security Council calls on Sudan to work with the ICC to "put an end to impunity for the crimes committed in Darfur."

Also, the Sudanese Justice Minister announces that detained members of a rebel group from the Darfur region will be charged with terrorism and tried this week.

June 19, 2008: Thirty-nine accused Darfur rebels appear before special courts in Sudan to be tried under a 2001 anti-terrorism law.

June 27, 2008: The Sudan head of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is ejected from the Darfur region after authorities said that she blocked state investigations into alleged MSF transgressions.

August 6, 2008: Sudan Justice Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat says that he has named one primary prosecutor and three assistants to investigate and try war crimes suspects from the Darfur region as part of a process of creating Sudan’s own internationally-monitored courts outside of the ICC.

August 11, 2008: ICC prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo tells the Sudan Tribune that Sudan does not have the political will to bring human rights offenders to justice.

August 28, 2008: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir threatens to ignore any arrest warrant issued by the ICC, saying he would not "deal with or respond to" the ICC.

September 17, 2008: South African President Thabo Mbeki speaks out against an ICC indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, saying the move will jeopardize stability in the Darfur region.

Also, Sudan calls for the UN Human Rights Council not to renew the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan, set to expire in December.

September 23, 2008: ICC prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo travels to New York to seek support at the UN for the arrest of Sudanese President al-Bashir.

September 25, 2008: The UN Human Rights Council extends the mission of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan until June 2009.

October 14, 2008: Sudan Justice Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat says that a special prosecutor has almost completed reports on some crimes in the region.

October 21, 2008: HRW accuses the Sudanese government of using a special prosecutor as "window dressing" to thwart an ICC investigation of war crimes.

November 6, 2008: UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Edmond Mulet says that an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of genocide in Darfur could “derail” the peace process in Sudan.

November 11, 2008: Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit says that the ICC should wait for peace efforts to play out before proceeding against Sudanese President al-Bashir for alleged war crimes.

November 15, 2008: ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo says that he would seek arrest warrants for the leaders of rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region.

November 20, 2008: ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo formally asks ICC judges to issue arrest warrants for the leaders of rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region.

December 11, 2008: Judges of the ICC ask for additional materials from Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo supporting requests for arrest warrants for rebel leaders.

December 22, 2008: Mohamed Alsary Ibrahim is charged in Sudan with, among other charges, passing on confidential military documents in connection with the ICC's investigation of Sudan's state minister for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Haroun.