London could host Darfur peace talks under proposals being put forward by Gordon Brown in an attempt to end the bloody conflict in the Sudanese province.

British officials have been in contact with the Sudanese regime and rebel groups to offer the possibility of a summit “as soon as practicable”.

On a day of protests marking the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict, it was business as usual in the battlefields. Rebels and Sudanese forces clashed in western Darfur along the border with Chad. Both sides claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties.

Rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement claimed to have overrun a government base in Kushkush, about 30 miles (50km) north of the regional capital, El Geneina. “The movement shot at an army helicopter and burnt it completely during the battle, and hit another one although its fate is unknown,” the rebels said.

A senior Sudanese officer denied that any helicopters had been hit. “There are many losses from the enemy side,” he said. “All our helicopters are fine.”

The impact of the fighting on young people had been “nothing less than devastating”, Mr Brown said yesterday. “On the fifth Global Day for Darfur, the eyes of the world are rightly focused on the millions of men, women and children in the region who continue to start each day with the fear of violence, abduction, rape or death.”

He welcomed the start made at deploying a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force but said that faster progress was required. “So far only 10,000 troops are in place and we need to do better than this,” he said.

In London, celebrities, activists and survivors rallied outside the Sudanese Embassy and showed video footage of Hollywood stars destroying a Barbie doll and other toys to highlight the plight of children caught in the conflict. About 3,000 protesters waved placards bearing messages such as: “Don't be Deaf to Darfur.”

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