Signs of hope in Darfur as death toll of refugees falls

Although confirmation was pending, there were clear signs the numbers dying from hunger and infectious diseases among the more than 1.5 million refugees in the western Sudan region had fallen, said the WHO’s crisis chief, David Nabarro.

A massive appeal for aid was launched last year when details began to emerge of the plight of hundreds of thousands of black Africans in Darfur, forced from their homes by Arab militia.

Millions of pounds was raised and a major relief operation was rolled out to tackle the looming humanitarian crisis.

The Scotsman was at the forefront of the campaign to highlight the crisis and readers raised tens of thousands of pounds for the aid effort.

The WHO yesterday said that, while the crisis was far from over, some positive signs were becoming apparent that the relief operation had alleviated the worst of the suffering.

"The kinds of information that I am receiving on water supply, sanitation, food access and health services ... would mean that the death rates are likely to have reduced," Mr Nabarro said. "We have almost certainly gone down to within the threshold limit for a humanitarian crisis."

In particular, there appeared not to have been the outbreaks of dysentery, diarrhoea and hepatitis in October, November and December that had occurred over the previous three months, Mr Nabarro said.

In October the WHO, a United Nations agency, said 70,000 refugees and other civilians had died since March, when international aid agencies began to gain access to the vast region, almost a year after armed rebels launched a revolt.

The death rate then was estimated by the WHO at 10,000 a month - twice the level at which a humanitarian crisis is declared - although Khartoum disputed the figure.

The refugees fled fighting between rebels, the Sudanese army and militias, which the government has been accused of supporting. Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels, but denies any links to the Janjaweed militias, who are accused of widespread abuses, including mass killings and rapes.

The WHO has not been able to carry out a new study of mortality rates within the various refugee camps inside Darfur, which is the size of France, because continuing violence made it difficult for international staff to move about, Mr Nabarro said.

But reports, including those from other UN agencies and non-governmental organisations, suggested the monthly figure had probably now fallen to below 5,000, he said.

"If they are correct, we would then say that the people in Darfur are no longer experiencing acute humanitarian crisis," Mr Nabarro said.

Meanwhile, Sudanese security officials have detained a prominent rights activist for the second time in 14 months, his wife and Sudanese rights organisations said yesterday.

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam was taken early on Monday morning from his village in the western region of Kordofan, near Darfur, and has not been charged, they said.

In December 2003 Mr Adam was arrested and charged with crimes against the state for his work promoting human rights in the war-torn west. All charges against him were eventually dropped.

"They came to his home and arrested him ... We don’t know why or where he has been taken," said his wife, Sabah Mohamed Adam, a leading journalist at the opposition newspaper al-Ayyam, which has been closed down several times for its reporting on Darfur.

The Sudanese Organisation Against Torture said it believed his arrest was solely because of his activities in defending human rights.