Sudan on Thursday signed a peace accord with a small Darfur rebel group, but analysts and diplomats expect no end to an almost decade-long conflict in the western region as larger groups continue to oppose Khartoum. A counter-insurgency campaign against non-Arab rebels demanding more autonomy in Darfur in 2003 sparked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, prompting more than two million people to flee.
The United Nations says as many as 300,000 people have died, while Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000. Violence has since subsided but several rounds of peace talks have failed to secure a truce due to rebel divisions and continued military action. Ending the Darfur conflict is one of the main challenges for Khartoum keen to end all insurgencies after ending decades of conflict with the south which became independent on Saturday, the climax of a 2005 peace deal.
Qatar has hosted peace talks but the main rebel groups have both refused to sign a deal. Rebel divisions and continued fighting have been the two biggest obstacles to peace talks which have been ongoing since 2003 in Chad, Nigeria and Libya before moving to Doha.
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