June 2 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council arrived in Djibouti on Monday to meet key players in Somalia's conflict.

The meeting marks the start of a 10-day tour of African hot-spots. Here are some details of the conflicts they will be looking at:

* SOMALIA:

Hundreds of thousands have died from conflict, famine and disease since the collapse of a dictatorship brought anarchy to Somalia in 1991.

The government set up under the latest attempt to restore central rule has been struggling with an Islamist insurgency that began in early 2007 after Ethiopian and Somali troops pushed a militant Islamist movement out of Mogadishu.

Since then, at least 6,500 people have been killed. Aid workers say Somalia has 1.5 million internal refugees.

The United Nations is trying to broker peace talks in Djibouti but the Islamists and some other government opponents reject the negotiations.

* DARFUR:

Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, charging it with neglecting their vast western region.

The government armed mostly Arab militias to put down the revolt and launched air and ground strikes.

International experts estimate over 200,000 people have died, mostly from starvation and disease, and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes. Khartoum says 10,000 have been killed.

The U.N. Security Council last year approved deployment of a 26,000-strong peacekeeping force, but only 9,000 are on the ground.

Peace negotiations between Sudan's government and Darfur rebels were left in ruins this month when the insurgent Justice and Equality Movement attacked Khartoum.

* CHAD:

More than two years of conflict is closely linked to the Darfur fighting, which has spilled at least 250,000 refugees into Chad.

Sudan and Chad accuse each other of backing rebel movements in their countries. They routinely deny such accusations.

Over 700 people were killed in an attack on Chad's capital in February by rebels who say President Idriss Deby's government is corrupt and dictatorial.

In April, Deby named a new prime minister who offered to negotiate a peace deal.

* SOUTH SUDAN:

A 2005 peace deal ended two decades of civil war between Sudan's government in Khartoum and rebels from the largely Christian and animist south.

But clashes in the central town of Abyei last month have raised fears that war could resume.

Both north and south covet Abyei, close to oilfields that produce up to a half of Sudan's daily 500,000-barrel output.

They have argued over its boundary and administration, which were left undecided by the peace deal.

* DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO:

Experts estimate conflict has killed around 5.4 million people, mainly from hunger and disease, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in little over a decade.

Eastern Congo has remained a volatile patchwork of rebel and militia strongholds and simmering ethnic tensions since a 1998-2003 war.

Dozens of armed groups signed a January 2008 ceasefire and peace deal, but daily clashes have persisted.

More than half a million people have fled fighting between the army, Tutsi insurgents, local Mai Mai militia, and Rwandan Hutu rebels in North Kivu in the past 18 months.

* IVORY COAST:

A failed 2002 coup triggered a brief civil war that split Ivory Coast into a rebel-held north and a south controlled by President Laurent Gbagbo's government.

Gbagbo, elected in 2000, agreed a peace deal with the New Forces northern rebels in 2007 which has led to the scheduling of a long-delayed presidential election for Nov. 30, combined with a disarmament and reunification process.

For main story on U.N. visit please see [nL01118790]

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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