Darfur Sudan

A Darfur town under the control of Sudanese troops has been razed, the United Nations said Sunday. The destruction was in apparent retaliation for a suspected rebel attack on a nearby African Union peacekeeping base. The town of Haskanita, "which is currently under the control of the government, was completely burned down, except for a few buildings," the U.N. mission to Sudan said in a statement. The U.N.

Three African Union peacekeepers were still missing after 10 were killed in an attack on their outpost in Darfur, the AU said. Seven were hurt, including one in critical condition. The missing were believed to be wandering the desert in a war zone around the base in Sudan. Earlier, the AU said 23 peacekeepers were unaccounted for, but 20 of them had reached another peacekeeping base.

Armed men killed at least 10 African Union soldiers and seriously wounded seven others in the deadliest strike against peacekeeping troops in Darfur since they deployed in 2004. A faction of Darfur rebels was believed responsible for the assault, which began shortly after sunset Saturday. Rebel groups had been fighting Sudanese government troops nearby in recent days. But AU officials said they could not comment on the suspected identity of the gunmen until a formal investigation was concluded.

Wells at this giant Darfur refugee camp are drying up. Women wait as long as three days for water, using jerrycans to save their places in perpetual lines that snake around pumps. A year ago, residents could fill a 5-gallon plastic can in a few minutes, but lately the flow is so slow it takes half an hour. "The water is running out," said a breathless Mariam Ahmed Mohammed, 35, sweating at the pump with an infant strapped to her back.

united nations -- If Sudan swiftly supports peacekeepers and talks to end the conflict in Darfur, the world will help rebuild the beleaguered region, ministers and other senior officials from more than two dozen nations said Friday in a high-level meeting on the region's crisis.

Here on the territorial edge of one of the world's most intractable crises, U.N. peacemaker Jan Eliasson looks a gray-bearded tribal leader in the eye and tells him that there are moments in history that can make the difference between peace and more war. Talks are taking place aimed at solving the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, and the elder, called the makhtoum of Nyala, needs to persuade a rebel leader from his tribe to join in, Eliasson says.

Something remarkable happened this year at a clinic for malnourished infants in this West Darfur village: It ran out of patients. And physicians at the Doctors Without Borders clinic haven't seen a single gunshot wound since last year. Now they're thinking about closing down because there is a hospital next door run by another aid agency, and a third center is under construction. "It's getting a bit crowded here," said Sewnet Mekonnen, the clinic's field coordinator.

Sudanese forces attacked the Darfur region's most volatile camp to flush out rebels they say are behind attacks on police, said an army source and Kalma camp residents. A camp spokesman said it was unclear whether there were any casualties. The move on Kalma camp, home to 90,000 people, followed recent attacks on police posts, one near Kalma and the other inside Salam camp. One policeman was killed and eight injured.

Israel said it would no longer allow refugees from Sudan's Darfur region to stay after they sneak across the border from Egypt. The number of African migrants entering Israel, including those from Darfur, has soared to as many as 50 a day, apparently as word of job opportunities has spread, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Overnight, Israel returned 48 Africans to Egypt.

The Sudanese government has agreed to allow ailing Darfur rebel leader Suleiman Jamous to travel abroad for treatment, the United Nations said. Jamous is the Sudan Liberation Army's humanitarian coordinator. The United Nations had moved him to a U.N. hospital near Darfur more than a year ago without informing officials in Khartoum, the capital. Sudan has called him a criminal and has said it would arrest him if he left U.N. care. But a U.N.