Despite the passage of important resolutions by the UN Security Council in the last week of March 2005, the situation in Sudan remains grave. In Darfur, where as many as 10,000 people or more, overwhelmingly civilians, continue to die each month, stronger measures are still needed to restore security and prevent further mass deaths. More effective measures are also needed to preserve and implement the peace deal that in January 2005 ended the 21-year conflict between the Khartoum government and the insurgent Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/SPLM), and to forestall the outbreak of serious new civil conflict in the eastern part of the country. The key international organisations and concerned governments should urgently agree and coordinate at a high level on what is necessary, without regard to institutional prerogatives or national prestige.