The living can barely make room for their dead in Darfur

THE displaced of Darfur are hard pressed to find space for their dead or enough water for Muslims’ ritual washing of the body.

Three or four people die every day in Camp Hessa Hissa, most of malaria or waterborne diseases such as typhoid, said Jason Azevedo, an International Rescue Committee worker.

Graves are scattered among the stick-and-plastic tents of the living in a camp that houses an estimated 23,000 people who have fled their homes because of violence many blame on their government.

“Death is everywhere here,” said Omar Abdullah, a 43-year-old tribal chief living in the camp.

“The general feeling is very gloomy. Not only do the people have to put up with the misery of leaving their homes and lives behind, but also they are faced with death every day.”

The World Health Organisation said at least 6,000 and as many as 10,000 people are dying from disease and violence every month in camps like this one across Darfur.

WHO said its survey results also confirmed an estimated total death toll of 50,000 in Darfur since the start of the conflict 19 months ago, when rebels with their base among the region’s ethnic African farmers rose up, accusing the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum of neglect and discrimination.

The government is accused of trying to put down the rebellion by backing ethnic Arab herdsmen who long have competed with villagers over Darfur’s scarce resources. The escalating violence has forced thousands of ethnic Africans from their homes and been described by the United States as genocide.

The Sudanese government is under increasing pressure to do more to reverse what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. The international community, though, is divided on how to proceed.

At the United Nations, the United States faced opposition from China, Russia and other Security Council members to its latest draft resolution threatening oil sanctions against Sudan if the government doesn’t quickly rein in the Arab militia, the Janjaweed.

The European Parliament has called for UN sanctions and an international arms embargo against Sudan, saying atrocities being committed in Darfur were “tantamount to genocide.”

In doing so, the European Parliament became the first part of the EU family to agree with Washington’s genocide designation.

EU governments have so far refrained from that characterisation, which many believe requires strong international action.

The WHO study found that displaced people in North and West Darfur are dying at between three and six times the expected rate.

The WHO found most of the deaths were linked to disease in the filthy camps, while injury and violence were the cause of about 15% of deaths.