UN says Darfur dead may be 300,000;Sudan denies
(adds quotes, details)
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, April 22 (Reuters) - An estimated 300,000 people may have died in the 5-year conflict in Darfur, a dramatic increase over earlier estimates of 200,000, a top U.N. official said on Tuesday.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem said the figure was grossly exaggerated.
U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes mentioned the new estimate in a speech at a U.N. Security Council meeting on the conflict in the western Sudanese region.
"A study in 2006 suggested that 200,000 had lost their lives from the combined effects of the conflict. That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmes said, according to a written text of his remarks.
Abdalhaleem said Khartoum put the death toll at 10,000, slightly above the government's previous estimate of 9,000.
"These remarks by Holmes are not helpful, are not correct, are not credible," he told Reuters. "He should tell us who made that study, who commissioned it and how was it done."
Holmes gave no details on where his estimate comes from.
International experts also say over 2 million have been driven from their homes by the Darfur conflict. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, April 22 (Reuters) - An estimated 300,000 people may have died in the 5-year conflict in Darfur, a dramatic increase over earlier estimates of 200,000, a top U.N. official said on Tuesday.
Sudan's U.N. ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem said the figure was grossly exaggerated.
U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes mentioned the new estimate in a speech at a U.N. Security Council meeting on the conflict in the western Sudanese region.
"A study in 2006 suggested that 200,000 had lost their lives from the combined effects of the conflict. That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmes said, according to a written text of his remarks.
Abdalhaleem said Khartoum put the death toll at 10,000, slightly above the government's previous estimate of 9,000.
"These remarks by Holmes are not helpful, are not correct, are not credible," he told Reuters. "He should tell us who made that study, who commissioned it and how was it done."
Holmes gave no details on where his estimate comes from.
International experts also say over 2 million have been driven from their homes by the Darfur conflict. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
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