People displaced from Abyei waited for emergency food rations distributed by the World Food Programme in Agok, south Sudan in this picture made available by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). Southern Sudanese officials dismissed Khartoum's proposal for a joint north-south administration in oil-rich Abyei as a publicity stunt. The US suspended talks with Sudan on normalizing relations on Tuesday, saying leaders from the north and south were not really serious about ending clashes. Before any agreement removing sanctions, which Sudan has been under for more than a decade, the US wants to ensure a lasting and legitimate peace in the south and an end to the conflict in the western Darfur region.
