zein basravi in eastern chad for "inside story." ♪ mohammed: alright, let's go ahead and bring in oursts now. in london maysoon dahab, co-director of the sudan research group at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. and here in doha, abdelwahab el-affendi, a former sudanese diplomat and now a professor of politics at the doha institute for graduate studies. a warm welcome to you both. thanks for joining us today on "inside story." abdelwahab, let me start with you today. so the conflict began around khartoum, the country's capital, but the country has spread to many parts of the country. why has darfur become one of the main battlegrounds? guest: i think the therefore, was a starting point -- i think darfur was a starting point for the militia which is not terrorizing khartoum. before that they were as the conflict from the 1990's which unfortunately helped assist the former regime of bashir. the so-called arab tribes which incorporated many migrants from chad, and the original inhabitants of western darfur, and the tension escalated when the war started in 2002, and lat