UN doubles Darfur death toll to 180,000

The UN now estimates that about 180,000 people have died in Sudan’s western Darfur region as a result of violence, disease or malnutrition since October 2003 – ,more than twice the previous estimate.

UN emergency relief officials believe the rate of death has recently decreased because of increased humanitarian aid and improved access to the vast region, but the Sudanese government hasn’t given a green light for a new UN mortality survey, UN spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said Tuesday.

Last week, UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland told reporters that far more people had died in Darfur than the 70,000 reported since last year. “Is it three times that, is it five times that, I don’t know, but it’s several times the number of 70,000 that have died altogether,” she said.

But this week Egeland came up with the 180,000 figure – about 10,000 deaths a month from October 2003 until March 2005, Bunker said.

“It is a rough estimate,” she stressed.

The main basis of the new estimate is a World Health Organisation survey which found that up to 10,000 people a month were dying in Darfur between March and September 2004, Bunker said.

“We believe that recently mortality has decreased because of increased humanitarian assistance and access,” she said.

“However, we also believe that mortality rates prior to March 2004 were higher than the period covered by the survey because at that time there were almost no humanitarian aid workers on the ground, and therefore almost no humanitarian assistance because of lack of access,” she said.

Averaging the higher and lower periods, Egeland estimates that 10,000 Sudanese died every month over the 18-month period as a result of fighting, hunger and disease, Bunker said.

Eric Reeves, an English professor at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, who has written extensively on Sudan, issued his 12th assessment of mortality in Darfur on Friday which was more than double Egeland’s - approximately 380,000. Reeves estimated the current mortality rate at 15,000 deaths per month.

The Darfur conflict began after two non-Arab rebel groups took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in February 2003 to win more political and economic rights for the region’s African tribes.

Sudan’s government is accused of responding by backing Janjaweed militiamen who have carried out rapes and killings against Sudanese of African origin and razed their villages. The government denies backing the Janjaweed.