Andrew Peach

His support for his gay daughter put him at odds with his own administration's policy.

But as George Bush's strong, silent right-hand man, Dick Cheney showed just what the much-derided office of Vice President could be, whether people liked it or not.

Our correspondent Paul Adams on the life of Dick Cheney.

The city of Al-Fasha in Sudan was, until just over a week ago, the military's last remaining stronghold in the Darfur region.

It's now under the control of the paramilitary rapid support forces and the reports of mass slaughter that have been compared by war monitors to the genocide in Rwanda.

Sudan's military government is now meeting to discuss the security situation there.

As I heard from our global affairs reporter in Nairobi, Richard Kagoe.

There are reports of mass killings.

There are reports about sexual violence, attacks targeting aid workers, widespread lootings, reports of people being abducted, and also starvation.

And a lot of people who've been trying to flee from the city of El Fascia.

enroute to a town called Tawila, which is about 37 miles west of El Fascia.

We're hearing reports of the elderly women and children who are also exposed to sexual violence, and some young people have been forcefully conscripted to fight along the RSF.

And this has really caught the eye of the International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor's Office, who's saying that they're currently collecting evidence because of these reports and saying,

that possibly some of these do amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It's all very well the Sudanese government talking about the security situation, but what could it possibly do to improve it?

What could anyone do?

I mean, that's really the million-dollar question here, because they're coming to meet, and top on the agenda would be the security situation in the country, and this is in reference to the fall of Al-Farsha.

And just next to Al-Farsha, there's the Kordofan region.

There have been reports of ongoing clashes there,

and that the RSF captured a city called Barra, which is also very critical in terms of supplying aid and life-saving assistance.