Beneath one of the thorny trees dotting the village of Tabit, Darfur's prosecutor general sat interviewing women about a report Sudanese troops arrived last month and carried out a mass rape.

Dressed in his suit despite the 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) heat, Yasir Ahmed Mohamed took notes at a table as a woman wearing a brightly colored robe talked to him. Nearby 10 others waited in line for their turn with the prosecutor.

Sudan said Friday it has asked the U.N.-African Union Mission in Darfur to prepare an "exit strategy" from the region, amid strained ties over investigations into an alleged mass rape.

A local news website reported Sudanese soldiers raped 200 women and young girls in the village of Tabit on October 31 after one of their men went missing, which Khartoum has repeatedly denied.

Sudan's government and rebels from war-torn South Kordofan and Blue Nile adjourned a week of peace talks late Monday, with mediators claiming they were "not too far" from a deal.

More than one million people have been displaced or severely affected by over three years of conflict in the two states, which include the rugged rebel-held Nuba mountains.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Sudan to allow peacekeepers to investigate allegations of a mass rape in Darfur after Khartoum blocked the probe for a second time.

The U.N.-African mission (UNAMID) team was barred entry to the village of Tabit on November 4 following a report that Khartoum troops had raped 200 women and girls there but returned five days later and found no evidence.

Sudan's foreign ministry on Sunday again denied access to a U.N.-African peacekeeping mission seeking to enter a Darfur town to investigate a report government troops raped 200 women and girls.

A local news website had reported Sudanese troops entered the village of Tabit on October 31 after a soldier went missing and raped 200 girls and women, which Khartoum has denied.

Sudan summoned the head of the U.N.-African Mission in Darfur Friday over reports government troops had carried out a mass rape in the war-torn region, a foreign ministry official said.

UNAMID said in an internal report this week that the Sudanese military had sought to intimidate villagers to suppress allegations that more than 200 women and girls were raped.

Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels have launched a string of attacks across central Africa with a "steady increase" in abductions, the United Nations said in a report seen Thursday.

The elusive jungle insurgents, who raid villages and enslave residents, have abducted 432 people so far this year, a "steady increase" from last year and more than double the number in 2012, the report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) read.

Sudan's government and rebels from South Kordofan and Blue Nile launched their latest round of peace talks Wednesday, as mediators called for an "urgent" end to over three years of war.

More than one million people have been displaced or severely affected by the conflict in the two states.

Residents of war-torn South Sudan are enduring "unspeakable abuse and violence" as well as the threat of famine, a leading aid agency said in a report Monday.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the level of violence in the country, including ethnic massacres and gang rapes, was for some people even worse than during the brutal decades-long struggle for independence from Khartoum.

Intended as a safe haven, a camp housing tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict in Sudan's Darfur region is becoming a virtual prison with armed militias roaming outside.

The dusty streets of Kalma bustle with 163,000 internally displaced persons, but leaving is fraught with danger.