* 2005. Sudan's northern-based government and rebels in the south of Sudan sign a peace deal after two decades of fighting in Africa's longest-running civil war that led to the deaths of 2 million people. The deal provides for a referendum on southern secession. South Sudan declares independence in 2011.

It follows days of heavy fighting as the army took control of areas previously held by rival paramilitary force.

Two years into a civil war, the Sudanese military recaptured the palace in Khartoum, routing its paramilitary foe. Civilians have been trapped in the middle in a city with an apocalyptic air.