UN says disease and death rising in Sudan's Darfur

2 June 2004.

GENEVA, June 2 (Reuters) - Disease and death, especially among children, are on the rise among some two million people affected by a humanitarian crisis in the Sudan's troubled Darfur region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.

The outside world must act quickly to ensure that doctors, medical supplies, food and shelter materials are moved in fast to avert a major catastrophe, the United Nations agency said.

"Death and disease spiral upwards when there is inadequate food, unsafe water, improper sanitation and shelter, widespread violence....and insufficient access to medical care," WHO Director-General Lee Jong-Wook said in a statement.

"The world must not stand by as conflict is compounded by rising rates of death that could be prevented through concerted action."

The WHO statement was issued on the eve of a one-day U.N. conference in Geneva aimed at raising funds from richer countries for humanitarian operations by relief agencies in troubled Darfur, in western Sudan, and neighbouring Chad.

The U.N. says some 1.2 million people in the vast, arid region which covers one-fifth of Sudan have fled their homes, about 100,000 of them into Chad, as a result of fighting involving largely Arab militias and black African rebels.

About 800,000 more are affected by the crisis, though still in their villages, according to the world body.

The international human rights organisation Amnesty says the Sudanese government has given the militias army and air force support in a campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at the African population.

Khartoum denies this, arguing that civilians are suffering as a result of being caught up in fighting started by the rebels, who want wide autonomy for the region.

The WHO statement said it wants donor countries at Thursday's conference to pledge $7.6 million for health needs in Darfur as part of an overall package of $30 million it needs for health work throughout Sudan.

Until now, only $3.9 million has been promised.

Latest reports from Darfur and Chad indicate rapidly rising levels of malnutrition, diarrhoea and measles, and of death resulting from all three, according to the U.N. agency. The risk of further increases is growing as the rainy season approaches, it added.

"A massive scle-up in international commitment, action and effective ground presence is needed now to save precious lives," the WHO statement said.