U.N. estimates death toll in Sudan at 50,000

NAIROBI, July 26, 2004 (dpa) — The United Nations estimates that up to 50,000 people have died as a result of the crisis in the western Sudanese Darfur region.

Revising the previous estimated death toll of 30,000, U.N. spokesman Ben Parker said in Nairobi Monday: “Up to 50,000 people might could have lost their lives as a result of the conflict.”

Parker announced that an eight-strong team of U.N. human rights experts were due to travel to the crisis region shortly. It was the first time that the Sudanese government had officially agreed to such an on-going mission, he said.

While the members of the delegation had received their visa it was still unclear whether they needed extra permits to travel to Darfur as aid workers had recently been allowed to travel without it, he said.

Journalists applying for access to the region are still being delayed by red tape.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese government reiterated Monday that it was willing to cooperate with the international community to solve the conflict.

“We want to cooperate with the African Union and the international community,” President Omar al-Bashir told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Monday.

He was speaking as European Union foreign ministers were preparing to meet in Brussels to repeat warnings that Khartoum may face sanctions if it does not disarm Arab Janjaweed militias accused of killing thousands of people and systematically raping women in Darfur.

However, Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail denied Monday that the conflict was motivated by the ethnic differences between the Arab Janjaweed and the settled black Africans in the region.

“The problem rather is one between tribes which conduct agriculture and the nomads,” he said.