A French aid group says it will suspend activities in Darfur because the situation in western Sudan has become too dangerous for its workers.

The Bush administration says it supports the effort by New Mexico state Governor Bill Richardson to persuade Sudan to drop its objection to new peacekeeping troops for Darfur. State Department officials say Sudanese leaders have sounded more conciliatory on the issue in recent days, but that the United States is not dropping a threat of punitive action against Khartoum. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The U.N. refugee agency says violence over the past two weeks in eastern Chad has driven as many as 20,000 people from their homes.

For yet another year, Sudan's Darfur region has been in the news repeatedly, with media reports using language such as genocide, atrocities, rape and pillaging. Despite a peace deal signed last May between the government and rebels, many observers say Darfur has sunk deeper into violence and despair.