Ahead of a visit to the country, Hilary Benn has warned that the situation in Sudan is desperately serious.

Amid international confusion about the situation on the ground inside Sudan, Benn said the country was facing "huge human rights violations".

The comments come after the Janjaweed militia drove one million people from their homes.

"There has been mass rape, killing, the burning of villages," said Benn.

The international development minister said it was important to get both aid and UN human rights monitors into Sudan.

"We need to put all our effort internationally into making sure that aid supplies get to the people who need them - both along the border with Chad, where a lot of refugees have gone, but also to the very large number of people who have been internally displaced," he said.

"They have had to flee their homes within Darfur. One of the problems is we don't currently have a full picture of exactly what is going on."