Darfur: Two million displaced
2004-11-23 08:28
Ottawa - A top UN aid official warned on Monday that the number of people chased from their homes in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region would reach two million by next month.
World Food Program executive director James Morris said that estimate on the region's torrents of displaced people was a staggering 300 000 people higher than a WFP estimate issued just one week ago.
"By December, there will be two million displaced persons," Morris said during a visit to Canada, in the same week that the country's Prime Minister Paul Martin was due in Sudan to press for a end to the humanitarian crisis.
There were currently 155 camps for the displaced in Darfur plus 13 in neighbouring Chad, he said.
Fighting erupted in Darfur in February 2003 after rebels launched an armed insurrection to protest what they allege is the political and economic marginalisation of the region's black Africans by the Arab-led government.
Khartoum's response was to unleash Arab militia, the Janjaweed. Since the fighting began more than 70 000 people have been killed or have died from hunger and disease in the area, according to the United Nations.
- SAPA