Darfur lake could escalate violence

July 21, 2007 (KHARTOUM, Sudan) — The huge underground lake believed to underlie the Darfur region in Sudan could escalate the conflict in the region.

A recent U.N. report suggested desertification and scarce resources have caused Darfur’s problems, suggesting that a stable water supply could ease them. But Alex de Waal, a researcher who was in Sudan in the mid-1980s when the region was hit by famine, is less optimistic.

“Like all resources water can be used for good or ill,” de Waal told The New York Times. “It can be a blessing or also a curse. If the government acts true to form and tries to create some sort of oasis in the desert and control who settles there, that would simply be an extension of the crisis, not a solution.”

Researchers at Boston University announced their discovery of the lake this week. They said it is as big as Lake Erie.

More than 200,000 people have died in Darfur and more than 1 million are now refugees. The conflict springs from divisions between Arab herders and non-Arab farmers.

(UPI)