The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, has warned that time is running out for the people of the Darfur region and accused Sudan of failing to protect its citizens.
She was speaking after a meeting in New York where a number of countries agreed to step up efforts to persuade Sudan to accept the deployment of UN peacekeepers.
The government in Khartoum is strongly opposed to such a move.
The United Nations estimates that as many as 200,000 people may have died in Darfur, while around two million others have been forced to flee their homes.
Emira Woods, from the Institute of Policy Studies in Washington, says that not enough is being done to protect African people.
