violist, love music, films, and helping others:DARFUR, SUDANSudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has announced an immediate ceasefire in the Darfur region of western Sudan, where up to 300,000 people have died and more than two million have fled their homes since 2003.
Previous ceasefires have failed and the region's two main rebel groups have rejected the move.More than two million people have fled their homes in DarfurWHY IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING THIS NOW?
The ceasefire was one of the main recommendations of a government-sponsored initiative to find peace for Darfur.
Observers say it is also part of an attempt by Sudan to persuade the UN Security Council to delay possible war crimes charges against Mr Bashir.
An International Criminal Court prosecutor sought to indict him in July on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur.
According to the ICC, Mr Bashir is alleged to have "masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity".
Sudan has rejected the court's jurisdiction and hopes to get enough votes on the Security Council to postpone any warrant, but such a move would have to get the agreement of the United States, Britain and France, all of which hold a veto in the Council.
Although there is much scepticism about the government's motives in declaring a ceasefire, some diplomats say it is a step in the right direction.
Mr Bashir also announced the government would start disarming militias and restrict the use of weapons among armed forces.
Any reduction of hostilities on the ground will be good for the people of Darfur. But the government has promised to disarm the pro-government Janjaweed militia before, with little evidence of it happening.HOW DID THE CONFLICT START?
The conflict began in the arid and impoverished region early in 2003 after a rebel group began attacking government targets, saying the region was being neglected by Khartoum.
The rebels say the government is oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.
Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zaghawa communities.
There are two main rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), although both groups have split.
There are now more than a dozen rebel groups - making peace talks extremely difficult.HOW DID THE GOVERNMENT RESPOND TO THE REBELLION?
It admits mobilising "self-defence militias" following rebel attacks but denies any links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to "cleanse" black Africans from large swathes of territory.
Refugees from Darfur say that following air raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping women and stealing whatever they can find.
Many women report being abducted by the Janjaweed and held as sex slaves for more than a week before being released.
The US and some human rights groups say that genocide is taking place - though a UN investigation team sent to Sudan said that while war crimes had been committed, there had been no intent to commit genocide.
Sudan's government denies being in control of the Janjaweed and President Bashir has called them "thieves and gangsters".
Trials have been announced in Khartoum of some members of the security forces suspected of abuses - but this is viewed as part of a campaign against UN-backed attempts to get some 50 key suspects tried at the ICC in The Hague.WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO DARFUR'S CIVILIANS?
Millions have fled their destroyed villages, with some two million in camps near Darfur's main towns.
The Janjaweed patrol outside the camps and Darfuris say the men are killed and the women raped if they venture too far in search of firewood or water.
Some 200,000 have also sought safety in neighbouring Chad, but many of these are camped along a 600km (372 mile) stretch of the border and remain vulnerable to attacks from Sudan.
The refugees are also threatened by the diplomatic fall-out between Chad and Sudan, as the neighbours accuse one another of supporting each other's rebel groups.
Chad's eastern areas have a similar ethnic make-up to Darfur and the violence has spilled over the border area. Both capitals have also been attacked this year by rebel groups.
Many aid agencies are working in Darfur but they are unable to get access to vast areas because of the fighting.HOW MANY HAVE DIED?
With much of Darfur inaccessible to aid workers and researchers, calculating how many deaths there have been is impossible.
The Janjaweed are accused of the worst atrocities.
What researchers have done is to estimate the deaths based on surveys in areas they can reach.
The latest research published in September 2006 in the journal Science puts the numbers of deaths above and beyond those that would normally die in this inhospitable area at "no fewer than 200,000".
They have made no distinction between those dying as a result of violence and those dying as a result of starvation or disease in refugee camps.
UN officials say they believe the figure is now about 300,000.
Accurate figures are crucial in determining whether the deaths in Darfur are genocide or - as the Sudanese government says - the situation is being exaggerated.HAVE THERE BEEN PREVIOUS PEACE TALKS?
Lots.
The leader of one SLA faction, Minni Minnawi, who signed a peace deal in 2006 after long-running talks in Nigeria, was given a large budget and became a presidential adviser.
But his fighters have been accused by Amnesty International of abuses against people in areas opposed to the peace deal.
Amid international threats of sanctions for those refusing to attend, many rebel groups briefly attended preliminary talks with the government in Libya in October 2007 - but there has been little hope of a quick breakthrough.
The government may hope that its latest ceasefire will put pressure on rebel groups to sign up to the 2006 deal if there is a reduction of hostility on the ground.IS ANYONE TRYING TO STOP THE FIGHTING?
The joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission, Unamid, took over in January from an African peace force.
But the UN peacekeeping head says so far only half of the 26,000 troops authorised for the Unamid force will be deployed by the end of the year.
Some say even 26,000 troops will not be enough to cover a remote area the size of France.
Others point out that peacekeepers cannot do much unless there is a peace to keep.
They say the fighting can only end through a deal agreed by all sides, which has yet to materialise.
If we turn our heads and look away and hope that it will all disappear then they will - all of them, an entire generation of people. And we will have only history left to judge us -George Clooney
I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours- Henry David Thoreau
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