Darfur crisis toll will hit 300,000 – British MPs

LONDON, Mar 29, 2005 (KUNA) — The death toll from the humanitarian crisis in Darfur has been massively underestimated and is likely to reach 300,000, British MPs said Wednesday.

Mihad Hamid, age 1, shot in the back as she and her mother fled gunship attack. (Brian Steidle).

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 70,000 have died in the crisis, but a House of Commons committee says the true figure is likely to be more than four times higher.

The findings come in a report by the International Development Committee which accuses the international community of a scandalously ineffective response” to the situation in Sudan.

It says governments across the world, including the UK, were guilty of a catalogue of failings in dealing with the crisis.

The UN has labelled the situation in the western region of Sudan as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Sudan’s government and pro-government Arab militias are accused of war crimes against the region’s black African population. More than two million people have been forced to flee their homes. And nearly two-and-a-half million are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, a figure that looks likely to rise to four million over the course of this year.

The International Development Committee said the WHO’s widely-quoted mortality estimate of 70,000 was a gross underestimate”.

UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland has said the real figure is likely to be several times that. The committee puts the figure at somewhere around 300,000”.

It says the WHO figure is wrong because it only counts the violent deaths that took place in camps for internally displaced people. Of those attacked in their villages, only those who made it to the camps before dying would be included in the WHO estimate.

Apart from those cases the WHO estimate does not include deaths due to violence from which people have fled. Furthermore it only covers the period from March to mid-October 2004 and only takes account of deaths in accessible areas within the borders of Darfur.

More than two million people have been forced to flee their homes. And nearly two-and-a-half million are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, a figure that looks likely to rise to four million over the course of this year.

The International Development Committee said the WHO’s widely-quoted mortality estimate of 70,000 was a gross underestimate”.

UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland has said the real figure is likely to be several times that. The committee puts the figure at somewhere around 300,000”.

It says the WHO figure is wrong because it only counts the violent deaths that took place in camps for internally displaced people. Of those attacked in their villages, only those who made it to the camps before dying would be included in the WHO estimate.

Apart from those cases the WHO estimate does not include deaths due to violence from which people have fled. Furthermore it only covers the period from March to mid-October 2004 and only takes account of deaths in accessible areas within the borders of Darfur. The US says the crisis amounts to genocide. But the UN has stopped short of using the term.

Today’s report says the crimes committed are no less serious and heinous than genocide”.

The committee says the blame for the crisis rests primarily with the Sudanese government. But it says other governments and the UN Security Council also failed the people of Darfur.

Early warnings about the emerging crisis were ignored, humanitarian agencies were slow to respond, responsibilities for helping displaced people and managing camps were unclear, and the UN suffered from an avoidable leadership vacuum” in Sudan at a critical time.

The report also heaps criticism on the UN Security Council. It says it has been divided, weak and ineffective” because it has been driven by member states’ interests in oil and exporting arms.

It says the situation should be referred to the International Criminal Court and there should be targeted sanctions and an extension of the arms embargo to cover the Sudanese government.

The report also says the priority given to the north-south peace process in Sudan was misguided” and had predictable and deadly” consequences for Darfur.

It welcomes the involvement of the African Union, but warns it must not become an excuse for inaction by others.

Committee chairman, the main opposition Conservative MP Tony Baldry said The world’s failure to protect the people of Darfur from the atrocities committed against them by their own government is a scandal”.

Crises such as Darfur require the world to respond collectively and effectively. Passing the buck will not do”.

“The international community must now fulfil its responsibility to protect the people of Darfur. Attacked by the government which is meant to protect them, the people of Darfur, whom we have collectively and demonstrably failed, deserve no less. We demand that there is action now”, Baldry added.