Since President Robert Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 1999, the country has been plunged into a state of severe economic and political decline. Though whites in Zimbabwe made up only 1% of the population, they controlled approximately 70% of the commercially arable land in the country. When that land was allocated to political supporters of Mugabe, agricultural production saw a sharp decline and the country now faces high inflation and severe food shortages. Once known as a jewel among Africa's countries, it is now known to possess one of Africa's toughest regimes.

The Security Council on Friday extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan until 24 September, with the intention to renew it for further periods.  The Council is also investigating how best to support efforts by States in the region to put an end to the activities of illegal armed groups, including proposals on how United Nations agencies and missions, in particular UNMIS, could more effectively address the problem of the LRA. http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2006/sc8672.doc.htm

Envoy Says Sudan Doesn't Want U.N. Force in Darfur - 3/01/2006, New York Times
Sudan has withdrawn its support for a United Nations peacekeeping force to replace African Union troops now in the conflicted Darfur region and is lobbying other countries to help discourage the substitution, Jan Pronk, the United Nations envoy for Sudan, said today. "The government is taking a very strong position against a transition to the U.N., and that is new," Mr. Pronk said. "Sudan has sent delegations to many countries in the world in order to plead its case let the A.U. stay and let the U.N. not come." In another move indicating a further stall in the international effort to curb violence in Darfur, John R. Bolton, the United States ambassador, conceded the failure of an American effort to produce a resolution on a United Nations mission to Sudan by the end of February, when the United States occupied the Security Council presidency.

http://www.alertnet.org/

KHARTOUM, March 27 (Reuters) - U.N. forces can enter Darfur if their mandate is clearly defined, to relieve underfunded African troops monitoring a shaky truce in the western region, Sudan's first vice president said on Monday.