1983 - Government, dominated by northern Arabs, adopts aspects of Islamic sharia law and, later, martial law. Relations with the mostly animist and Christian south deteriorate

1983-84 - Rebels set up Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)

1986

Apr-May Sadiq al-Mahdi becomes prime minister and starts three years of chaotic coalition government

1989

Jun - Lieutenant-General Omar Hassan al-Bashir takes power in bloodless coup

1992 - Government offensive seizes southern territory, including SPLA headquarters at Torit

1994

May - Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional conflict-resolution body, urges self-determination for the south. Khartoum quits IGAD talks

1996

Mar - Elections keep Bashir in power

1997

Apr - Khartoum signs deal with the South Sudan Independence Movement and other rebel groups, isolating the SPLA

Oct - Peace talks open in Nairobi

2000

Feb - Talks resume but end after five days when rebels accuse Sudan of indiscriminate attacks on civilians

2001

Sep - United Nations lifts sanctions against Sudan after five years. Unilateral U.S. sanctions from 1997 remain

2002

Jul - Five weeks of talks in Machakos, Kenya, yield deal between government and SPLM on key issues of religion and self-determination, known as the "Machakos protocol". Bashir meets rebel chief John Garang for the first time, but negotiations collapse in September after rebels seize the strategic garrison town of Torit

Oct - Government and SPLM sign ceasefire for duration of latest round of peace talks, the first such truce

2003

Sep - Peace effort boosted when Garang meets First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, and talks saved from collapse. Government and SPLA sign security deal, a major stumbling block in peace talks

2004

Jan - Government and rebels sign accord on how to share country's wealth when war ends

May - Government and SPLA sign three protocols settling outstanding issues and clearing way for a full peace deal

Nov - Government and SPLA sign a pledge before U.N. Security Council members meeting in Kenya to end the war by Dec 31

Dec - Government officials and SPLM sign final two chapters of a peace accord

2005

Jan - Garang and chief government negotiator Taha sign a comprehensive peace accord ending the civil war

Apr - Donors at a conference in Norway pledge $4.5 billion to help southern Sudan recover

Jul - Garang sworn in as first vice-president. Garang killed 21 days later in a helicopter crash. Days of riots follow in which more than 100 people killed

Aug - Salva Kiir, the last surviving founding member of the SPLM, sworn in as first vice-president

Oct - The south forms an autonomous government, dominated by former rebels

Dec - U.N. refugee agency launches a repatriation programme for south Sudanese refugees

2006

Mar - U.N. refugee agency briefly suspends repatriation programmes after fighting in the town of Yambio, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo

May - International relief agency Medecins Sans Frontieres evacuates staff from some areas of south Sudan due to militia fighting and tribal clashes, which kill more than 100 people

Nov - Heaviest fighting since peace accord leaves some 150 dead and hundreds injured around southern town of Malakal

2007

Feb - SPLM says it will move its headquarters to Khartoum in order to gain greater influence over policy decisions it says have been made unilaterally by the National Congress Party

Mar - U.N. refugee agency appeals for $56 million to help more than 125,000 refugees return to southern Sudan in 2007

Jul - Government of Southern Sudan issues flood disaster declaration in six states after torrential rains cause flash floods

Sep - World Food Programme announces it will begin a month of emergency air drops to feed 43,800 people in three flood-affected states in southern Sudan

Kiir warns of a possible return to war if the 2005 peace agreement isn't implemented

Oct - SPLM withdraws members from the coalition government to pressure its northern partners to reignite stalled peace process

Dec - SPLM rejoins government

2008

Jan - Sudan says it has pulled out northern troops from southern oil fields

Apr - National census

May - Skirmishes between Sudanese troops and SPLM in oil-rich flashpoint town of Abyei ignite fears of renewed civil war. Up to 100,000 displaced

South Sudan defence minister killed in plane crash

Jun - National Congress Party (NCP) and SPLM agree to submit Abyei border dispute to Hague-based Permanent Court for Arbitration. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls for investigation after U.S. accuses U.N. of failing to protect town

Aug - NCP and SPLM agree composition of Abyei administration. U.N. peacekeepers report north and south armies not yet fully withdrawn from region, but joint forces operating

Oct - Ban calls for more U.N. peacekeepers for south Sudan

Dec - Government agrees to withdraw troops from Abyei after dispute between army and police causes thousands to flee the town

2009

Feb - Scores killed and wounded in clashes between SPLM and southern militia in southern town Malakal

Mar - International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Bashir over war crimes in Darfur. Government expels 13 foreign aid groups from Sudan, and closes three local aid agencies in Darfur. The expulsion threatens aid programmes in south and east Sudan, as well as Darfur

Bashir later says he wants all foreign aid agencies to stop distributing relief within a year, and to train up Sudanese organisations to replace them