JANUARY
9 Jan: The Sudanese government and the southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) sign a comprehensive peace agreement in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, ending 21 years of civil war.
19 Jan: In a series of attacks in South Darfur State, 105 civilians - the majority women and children - are killed and more than 9,000 people are displaced. Aid workers and rebels claim government planes bombed the area.
21 Jan: Up to 36 people are killed and 26 others injured when armed men attack a village about 100 km north of the South Darfur capital, Nyala.
26 Jan: Janjawid attacks and aerial bombardments against the town of Shangil Tobaya and surrounding villages, 50 km south of the North Darfur capital El Fasher, leave approximately 100 civilians dead.
29 Jan: Sudanese security forces use excessive force to crush a demonstration of the semi-nomadic Beja people in the Red Sea town of Port Sudan, killing over 20 people and wounding hundreds. More than 150 members of the rebel Beja Congress are detained throughout eastern Sudan.
31 Jan: The United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry concludes that violence in Darfur did not amount to genocide, but that mass killings of civilians had occurred. "The crucial element of genocidal intent appears to be missing, at least as far as the central government authorities are concerned," the commission says. "There may have been genocidal acts in Darfur and some individuals may be found guilty of genocidal intent."
FEBRUARY
5 Feb: The African Union (AU) reports that the security situation in North and South Darfur has deteriorated progressively over the past four months, with unacceptable consequences for the peace and tranquillity of the civilian populations.
16 Feb: Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recommends that the UN Security Council refer reports of human rights violations in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
25 Feb: Wendy Chamberlin, deputy high commissioner of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), reports that an estimated 600,000 Sudanese have already returned to the south spontaneously, but warns that the region lacks even basic infrastructure. Thousands more are expected within the coming months.
MARCH
7 March: The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reports that between October 2004 and mid-February 2005, doctors in several locations in North and South Darfur had treated almost 500 women and girls who had been raped. The report, entitled "The Crushing Burden of Rape: Sexual Violence in Darfur", says it believes "these numbers reflect only a fraction of the total number of victims because many women are reluctant to report the crime or seek treatment."
9 March: An emergency reconstruction report, prepared by the government, the SPLM/A, the World Bank and the UN, entitled: "Framework for Sustained Peace, Development and Poverty Eradication in Sudan", estimates that some US $7.8 billion would be required to fund an initial post-war recovery and development plan for Sudan.
24 March: The UN Security Council unanimously agrees to send 10,000 troops and up to 715 civilian police to southern Sudan to support the peace agreement.
29 March: The UN Security Council decides to freeze assets and impose a travel ban on those believed to have committed human rights abuses or violated the ceasefire agreement in Darfur. The resolution also bans the sale or supply of military equipment to nongovernmental entities or individuals involved in the Darfur conflict, including the Sudanese government. It further demands that the government immediately cease conducting offensive military flights in the region.
31 March: The UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1593, under which suspected perpetrators of human rights abuses and war crimes in Darfur could be tried at the ICC.
APRIL
5 April: The International Rescue Committee reports that up to 186,000 members of the Beja community are trapped in a Sudanese rebel-controlled area of eastern Sudan near the Eritrean border and in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
12 April: International donors at a conference in Oslo, Norway, pledge more than $4.5 billion to rebuild Sudan.
14 April: During a daylong attack, 350 militiamen on horses and camels destroy the village of Khor Abeche in South Darfur.
24 April: Interclan violence, sparked by cattle rustling and disputes over pasture and water, leaves 75 people dead and 4,000 more displaced in Yirol and Awirial counties in southern Sudan's Lakes State.
MAY
1 May: Two aid workers of the Sudanese Red Crescent Society are killed when their vehicle is attacked near the eastern town of Kassala, close to the border with Eritrea.
8 May: Two Sudanese truck drivers contracted by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) are killed in two separate incidents when unidentified gunmen open fire on them on the road between Ed-Daen and Nyala in South Darfur. The AU estimates that banditry in Darfur causes the death of one person every three days.
18 May: Approximately 30 people are killed when Sudanese security forces try to forcibly relocate internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Soba Eradi camp, 30 km south of Khartoum. Fourteen police officers are among the dead.
26 May: Donors pledge $300 million to support the AU forces in Darfur during a major fundraising conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AU had appealed for $466 million to boost its peacekeeping force from 2,270 members to 7,700 members by the end of September and needed a total of $723 million to expand the force to 12,300 by next year.
30 May: Sudanese authorities arrest two senior MSF officials over their report that hundreds of rapes had been committed in Darfur, accusing them of publishing false information. On 20 June the Sudanese authorities drop all charges.
JUNE
6 June: Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC prosecutor, opens investigations into human rights abuses in Darfur.
13 June: A court set up by the Sudanese government starts hearing the cases of 160 people accused of committing crimes in Darfur.
20 June: Rebels of the Beja Congress group destroy three government military camps during a major offensive for control of the Red Sea town of Tokar, some 120 km south of Port Sudan in northeast Sudan.
29 June: The revised 2005 Workplan for the Sudan estimates the total requirements for humanitarian assistance and recovery and development programmes at $1.96 billion - $643 million of which had been received so far.
JULY
4 July: The mortality rates in Darfur fall below one death per 10,000 people per day, the threshold used to define a humanitarian crisis - a three-fold drop since 2004 - according to a survey coordinated by the UN World Health Organization (WHO). The general health situation remains of concern, however.
9 July: John Garang, the chairman of the SPLM/A, is sworn in as first vice-president, while Umar al-Bashir retains the presidency. Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, the outgoing first vice-president, is appointed second vice-president.
15 July: Pockets of severe malnutrition are noted in counties in the southwestern Sudanese region of Bahr el Ghazal, including Twic, Gogrial, Aweil and Raga, with thousands of people suffering from severe malnutrition, WFP warns.
19 July: The Sudanese government and the two main rebel groups in Darfur sign a Declaration of Principles. While political leaders express hope that the agreement will lead to peace in the region, rebel commanders in the field paint a grim picture about the reality on the ground.
30 July: First Vice-President John Garang is killed in a helicopter crash on his way back to his base in southern Sudan from Uganda. At least 130 people are killed in three days of violence that follow.
AUGUST
9 Aug: Local observers warn of an increased tendency towards “warlordism”, as Darfur slides into a state of lawlessness. They also caution for the fragmentation of Darfur’s main rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) along ethnic lines. Rebel commanders in the field might not accept a peace agreement, they warn.
11 Aug: The new SPLM/A chairman, Salva Kiir Mayardit, is sworn into office as Sudan's new first vice-president in a sombre ceremony in the capital, Khartoum.
16-17 Aug: Approximately 700 families are moved from the Shikan IDP settlement in Omdurman to El Fateh 3, as demolition and relocation in Khartoum IDP camps and squatter areas resumes.
31 Aug: Sudan's new interim National Assembly, appointed by decree by President Umar al-Bashir, holds its first session.
SEPTEMBER
13 Sept: Banditry and continuous attacks by armed groups on humanitarian workers, Arab nomads and villages in Darfur that have increased significantly over the past weeks threaten to destabilise a fragile ceasefire, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reports.
15 Sept: WFP warns that the food-security situation in south Sudan - particularly Northern Bahr El Ghazal - remains fragile, as malnutrition rates during an already bad hunger season seem to be further deteriorating and the prospects for the next harvest look bleak.
15 Sept: Rampant insecurity leads to the closure of all roads out of El Geneina, the capital of West Darfur. A single helicopter is the only means left to humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance to IDP camps.
18-20 Sept: Government soldiers and Janjawid fighters attack more than 20 villages in North Darfur, displacing thousands of people.
19 Sept: Amidst heavy fighting, the SLM/A takes control of the government-controlled town of Shareya in South Darfur.
22 Sept: Sudanese President Omar al Bashir swears in the cabinet of ministers of the new government of national unity.
28 Sept: Jan Egeland, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, announces that the UN will suspend work in many areas in Darfur due to the sharp escalation of violence in September.
29 Sept: The Interim Legislative Council of Southern Sudan, which brings together many former military and political adversaries, is officially inaugurated in Juba, the southern Sudanese capital.
OCTOBER
4 Oct: Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the adoption of a new government of national unity, and the end of the rainy season, Riek Machar, vice-president of southern Sudan, warns for a "tsunami" of returning IDPs to southern Sudan. Preliminary estimates of returnees for the year 2006 vary between half a million and 1.5 million.
6 Oct: The International Crisis Group (ICG), in report entitled "Unifying Darfur's Rebels: A Prerequisite for Peace", cautions that there is little hope for real success at the AU-sponsored peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, unless SLM/A rebel leaders act to unify their groups.
8 Oct: Three Nigerian peacekeepers and two contractors are killed after rebels open fire on them. It is the first time the AU suffers fatalities in Darfur.
19 Oct: Continued attacks on civilians in southern Sudan by the Ugandan rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are making humanitarian access to the region's vulnerable populations increasingly difficult, UNMIS warns.
23 Oct: Salva Kiir Mayardit announces the formation of the autonomous southern cabinet.
31 Oct: The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action suspends its operations in areas of southern Sudan after suspected LRA rebels kill two de-miners.
NOVEMBER
3 Nov: Minni Arko Minnawi is elected the new president of Darfur's main rebel group, the SLM/A. The incumbent president, Abdel Wahed Mohamed el-Nur says he will not recognise the election outcome. Observers fear that the movement's disunity will negatively affect the stalled African Union-sponsored peace talks that are set to resume on 21 November.
5 Nov: Barely a week after LRA rebels killed two employees of a Swiss de-mining foundation in southern Sudan, an employee of International Aid Services from Bermuda suffers fatal gunshot wounds in an LRA ambush.
21 Nov: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warns in his monthly report on Darfur that "the looming threat of complete lawlessness and anarchy draws nearer."
21 Nov: The World Health Organization confirms a yellow fever outbreak in South Kordofan, noting that at least 121 people have died as a result.
23 Nov: About 15,000 newly displaced people seek refuge in Gereida town after fighting at the beginning of November affected 26 villages. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reports that villages emptied and hundreds of people were killed. While most of the violence occurred between members of the Massalit and the Falata tribe, the fighting involved a volatile mix of various armed groups, including the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, the SLM/A and government armed forces.
DECEMBER
5 Dec: Salva Kiir Mayardit signs a new constitution for south Sudan.
9 Dec: The ICRC reports that continuing clashes between two communities of Arab nomads near the town of Zalingei in West Darfur have left around 60 people dead and displaced hundreds of families. During clashes in the area in October, between 150 and 200 people were reportedly killed and thousands of cattle stolen.
11 Dec: Human Rights Watch, in its report "Entrenching Impunity: Government Responsibility for International Crimes in Darfur", says that Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir and other senior officials should be investigated for crimes against humanity in Darfur and placed on a UN sanctions list. The looting and destruction of villages was not only condoned by government officials, the report notes, it was also methodically organised, with troops and militia members permitted to take land, livestock and other civilian property after killing, raping and torturing tens of thousands of people.
19 Dec: Militias riding on camels and horses attack Abu Sarouj village in West Darfur, killing 20 people and wounding 16 others. Two of the victims were burnt alive when their homes were torched.