By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - Group of Eight leaders meeting in Germany must tell the government of Sudan to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur where thousands of refugees are dying, Geoffrey Dennis, head of CARE International, said on Wednesday.

Dennis said he had seen for himself the plight of some of the millions who have been forced to take refuge in camps over the border in Chad.

"This is a desperate situation," he told Reuters hours after returning from a visit to the Sudanese border. "We want the G8 to lead by example and push for a political settlement in Darfur. We also need more money. Aid funds are running low."

Dennis said mortality rates in some of the camps were running at four per 10,000 per day whereas usually two per 10,000 is considered extremely serious, water was scarce and malnutrition rampant.

"We also want the G8 to recognise that climate change -- which is causing some of the water scarcity problems and making matters even worse for the refugees -- is becoming a security issue," Dennis added. "Waterholes are drying up."

The G8 summit in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm is expected to discuss both the crisis in Darfur and global warming on Thursday in the only full day of meetings during the three-day event.

The G8 leaders are expected to express a commitment to humanitarian aid in Darfur and urge the Khartoum government to accept a combined African Union-United Nations force there to try to bring peace.

"We need the G8 to give leadership. We are struggling against a tide here," Dennis said by telephone.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed an arms embargo on rebels and militia but not on the government, although it forbids offensive military flights by Khartoum over Darfur.

More than 200,000 people are believed to have been killed by a combination of fighting and famine in the vast region and at least two million people have been uprooted since 2003.

The United States and Britain have been working for weeks on an expanded U.N. sanctions resolution including an arms embargo over the entire country, a halt to all military flights over Darfur, monitors at Sudanese airports and an expansion of the list of people under sanctions.

President George W. Bush said on Wednesday Washington might support enforcement of a no-fly zone over Darfur.

"We would consider that," he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit when asked if a no-fly zone to stop the violence in Darfur was an option.

But Russia and South Africa have questioned the timing and China -- which is expanding aggressively into Africa -- has opposed further penalties.

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