World Disaster Reduction Day: Early Warning!
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Up to 10,000 dying a month in Darfur camps -U.N.
13 Sep 2004 18:05:00 GMT
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Displaced Sudanese women walk within the Abu Shouk refugee camp in northern Darfur.
Photo by ANTONY NJUGUNA |
GENEVA (Reuters) - Up to 10,000 people, many of them children, are dying each month from disease and the effects of violence in Darfur camps despite a big international aid effort, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.
A study of settlements in the west and the north of the conflict ridden region, carried out by the United Nations health agency and the Sudanese government, pointed to a monthly toll of 6,000-10,000 out of a displaced population of 1.2 million.
"Thousands of these are children," said David Nabarro, who heads the WHO's health crisis action group.
"These mortality figures are of considerable concern ... What is disturbing is that we are already six months into this crisis," he said, adding that the rate was up to six times that of an African country facing no humanitarian crisis.
Diarrhoea was the leading cause of death, particularly amongst children, but violence was also a "significant cause", although the survey, which was based on interviews, did not go into detail on the nature of the violence, he added.
"You should not be seeing these sort of figures six months into an emergency and they reflect the fact that we still have a huge humanitarian challenge ahead of us," he said.
But the mortality rate was in line with the 50,000 dead which the U.N. and other international bodies have been using as the likely toll since the crisis erupted, Nabarro said.
The United States has accused the Sudanese government of condoning genocide in Darfur by not halting Arab militia attacks against African tribes, which Khartoum suspects of supporting rebels in the vast and arid region.
Rebels launched a revolt in early 2003 after years of skirmishes between African farmers and Arab nomads over land. They accuse Khartoum of arming the Janjaweed to crush them and their civilian sympathisers, a charge the government denies.
Washington is pressing for international sanctions against Khartoum and the European Union warned on Monday it will impose sanctions against Sudan if it does not take adequate steps to disarm pro-government militias.
Around a quarter of those surveyed in the camps said they had no access to safe drinking water and between a third and a half had no latrines, Nabarro said.
Insecurity and logistical problems brought on by the rainy season were hampering the relief effort, but humanitarian agencies also suffered from a continued cash shortage.
"The fact is that our relief operation for a number of reasons is not doing the job," Nabarro said.
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