Homeless in Sudan’s Darfur region reach 2.4 million: UN

KHARTOUM, March 29 (AFP) — The number of people displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region has reached 2.4 million, well above previous estimates, the United Nations said Tuesday.

A Sudanese internally displaced woman at the Al-Fateh camp. (AFP).

“The number of the IDPs in the region has now reached 2.4 million with the basic services being offered to 1.6 million,” said Radhia Ashuri, a spokeswoman for UN Sudan envoy Jan Pronk.

The number of displaced persons in Darfur, where the UN says an estimated 180,000 people have died over the past 18 months, exceeded a pervious estimate of between 1.6 and 1.8 million, she told representatives of civil society organizations the situation in the region remained disturbing.

“The situation in Darfur is not reassuring as only yesterday some 700 new IDPs (displaced persons) arrived at Abu Shuk camp near El-Fashir,” the spokesperson said.

Pro-government militias such as the Janjaweed have been blamed for a string of atrocities in Darfur, including rape, murder and arson, which led to the displacement of the majority of the people.

Khartoum enlisted the militias to help put down an armed rebellion by ethnic minority rebels in the region led by the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement.

Ashuri’s comments came just a day after the government announced it had detained 14 people on suspicion of crimes, including rape and murder, committed in Darfur.