U.N. estimates about 180,000 people have died in Darfur

The United Nations 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 — 2½ times the previous estimate. U.N. emergency relief officials believe the number of deaths 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 U.N. mortality survey, U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker said Tuesday. Last week, U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said 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 Organization survey that found that up to 10,000 people a month were dying in Darfur between March and September 2004, Bunker said. Eric Reeves, an English professor at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., 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. [more]

• Pictured above: Is What Happened in Rwanda Happening in the Sudan? Skulls on display at the Nyarubuye church, where 20,000 people were massacred in 1994. Via MuslimWakeUp.com [more]