Many, however, including Darfur's rebel groups, have national ambitions and dream not of carving out their own piece of territory but of overthrowing the Arab-led government.

The Bush administration would love to enlist its Arab-led government as an ally in a critical part of Africa.

The Arab-led government cracked down, using its own military and arming private Arab militias.

The local Arab-led governments covered the cost of housing the interns while salaries were paid by Interns for Peace.

Since early 2003, the war in Darfur has pitted the Arab-led government of Sudan against rebels who are led by members of African tribes.

At least 200,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict, which started in 2003 when Darfur rebels attacked government targets, claiming the Arab-led government was neglecting black Africans.

Trouble is brewing in the north between the quasi-independent Kurds and the Shia Arab-led government.

The broad outlines of the conflict are that non-Arab tribes felt excluded from Sudan's Arab-led central government, and formed rebel groups to attack government forces.

Fighting between tribes in Darfur erupted in January following the collapse of law and order caused by the rebelling of African rebels against the Arab-led government.

The earthquake hit hard in towns with large populations of ethnic Berbers, where the lack of aid exacerbated long simmering tensions with the Arab-led government.