A UN envoy arrived in Sudan today to examine the government’s efforts to improve security and rein in Arab militia accused of months of atrocities in Darfur, preparing an assessment that could determine whether Sudan will be hit with sanctions.

The United Nations begins a three-day fact-finding mission in troubled Darfur today to establish whether the Sudanese government has fulfilled its pledges to improve security and rein in Arab militia accused of months of atrocities.

The Red Cross is mounting a major airlift of relief supplies to Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, in its largest such operation since the Iraq war.

FOR the people of Sudan it remains to be seen whether the visit of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, the last-minute commitments by the government of Sudan to allow access by international organisations and recent steps to arrest some members of the Janjaweed will translate into real action to end the cycle of violence, rape and killing.

A contingent of Rwandan troops is heading to Darfur this weekend – the first foreign soldiers to deploy in western Sudan, where thousands of people have been killed in violence some are calling a genocide.