Qatar's emir held talks in Sudan on Wednesday at a time of strained ties with his country's Gulf neighbors over its perceived support for the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was greeted at Khartoum airport by Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, for what an analyst called a meeting of two regionally-isolated regimes.

Three statues linked to royal burial ceremonies in Sudan's ancient Napatan civilization have been stolen from a museum near a UNESCO World Heritage site, an official said on Tuesday.

Their disappearance underscores the lack of protection afforded Sudan's rich but under-developed archaeological heritage.

Italy's navy said Thursday it had rescued 128 migrants from Egypt, Eritrea, Sudan and Syria from a boat crossing the Mediterranean which got into difficulty off the coast of Sicily.

The migrants, including eight women and 13 minors, were spotted by a helicopter patrolling the seas off Italy on Wednesday as part of an operation launched after two October shipwrecks in which hundreds drowned.

Attacks on villages in Darfur allegedly by a paramilitary unit are an "ugly blemish" on efforts to find a peaceful solution for the restive Sudanese region, Darfur's top peacekeeper says.

"The ongoing attacks on civilian villages and camps for internally displaced people, alleged to be carried out by the Rapid Support Forces, are a matter of concern and are an ugly blemish on our efforts to dialogue," said Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who heads the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

Aid workers in many parts of Sudan's Darfur face increasing government restrictions on their movement despite a soaring number of people needing help after recent violence, a senior U.N. official said Wednesday.

"At the moment, we're hearing reports of new displacement every day in North Darfur," the official told Agence France Presse, requesting anonymity.

Sudan has suspended a United Nations program which gives job training and other assistance to thousands of refugees and local residents in poverty-stricken east Sudan, the U.N. said on Wednesday.

The state-linked Sudanese Media Center said the Transitional Solutions Initiative (TSI) is on hold while both sides review the project "so it can attain its goals."

Gunmen have attacked and burned a camp for displaced people in Sudan's Darfur region, peacekeepers said on Monday, adding to an upsurge of suspected militia violence which has wreaked havoc.

The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has reported a series of attacks on villages in the region this month, but the Khor Abeche camp in South Darfur, assaulted on Saturday, was an unusual target.

A Sudanese worker for the International Committee of the Red Cross has been killed in Sudan's Darfur, the agency said on Friday, as violence worsens in the region.

"He was hit by a stray bullet while on his way home from work in a private car accompanied by three others," an ICRC statement said.

South Sudan's government and rebel forces face possible sanctions if they fail to progress with peace talks and stick to a ceasefire deal, United States and European Union envoys warned Wednesday.

The European Union "stands ready to consider targeted restricted measures against individuals obstructing the political process," EU envoy Alexander Rondos told reporters.

Peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region said Wednesday they have received fresh reports of villages attacked and burned, after the U.N. expressed worry over a rising number of displaced people.

The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said it had been told about attacks Sunday and Monday in Hashaba, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the North Darfur state capital El Fasher.