Hope springs from ancient lake found in Darfur

SCIENTISTS have discovered the underground remnants of an ancient lake in Sudan’s arid Darfur region, offering hope of tapping a precious resource and easing water scarcity, which experts say is the root of much of the unrest in the region.

The researchers hope to drill at least 1,000 wells in an attempt to tap into the underground reservoir, which is as large as the state of Massachusetts.

Decades of scarce water and other resources have stoked low-intensity local conflicts that eventually led to a devastating civil war.

The four-year conflict has killed more than 200,000 people, displaced more than 2.5 million others and sparked a regional humanitarian crisis.

“Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages,” said Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Centre for Remote Sensing, which led the effort that discovered the lake using radar data from space.

“There have been two long episodes of drought during the past 20 years, each lasting for about seven years,” the scientist said.

The wells could enable Darfur’s nomadic Arabs to maintain their lifestyle, sedentary communities to flourish and irrigation to kick-start agriculture activities that may feed trade and economic growth, he said.

Mr El-Baz, a NASA Apollo lunar exploration veteran, has pioneered the study of desert landscapes using satellite images.

Radhia Achouri, spokes- woman for the UN Mission in Sudan, said she could not comment because she had not read a report on the discovery.

The reservoir lies beneath a former highland lake whose features are covered by sand, researchers said. The lake occupied an area of 19,108sq km, about the size of Lake Erie.

The Egyptian government has pledged to drill the first 20 wells, and the UN plans to drill several more for use by its peacekeeping forces, the university said.