Up to 10,000 people, many of them children, are dying each month from disease and violence in Darfur camps, despite the international aid effort in the vast and arid region, the World Health Organisation said today.
A study of settlements in the west and the north of the conflict ridden region, carried out by the United Nations health agency, pointed to a monthly toll of 6,000-10,000 out of a displaced population of 1.2 million, it said.
"Thousands of these are children," said David Nabarro, who heads the WHO's health crisis action group. "What is disturbing is that we are already six months into this crisis," he told a news conference.
The United States has said the violence amounts to genocide and accuses the Sudanese government of not doing enough to stop Arab militia attacks against African tribes, which Khartoum suspects of supporting rebels in the region.