The first scientific survey to assess the deadly nature of the conflict in the Sudan's Darfur area has found that death rates there were three to 10 times higher than those normally found in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the gravity of the crisis.
Experts say the survey -- a rare study of people fleeing violence -- could be used to hold those behind the killings accountable for their actions.
Between April and June of this year, Dr. Evelyn Depoortee of the Epicenter in Paris, together with researchers from the French arm of the relief organization Doctors Without Borders, surveyed 215,400 people taking refuge in four locations in West Darfur to compare death rates in the region before and after the people were driven from their homes.
Their findings were being published yesterday on the Web site of The Lancet medical journal.
"Humanitarian aid workers have long suspected, and occasionally shown, that the events precipitating displacement and the period of relocation itself are especially dangerous, but clear epidemiological evidence of this increased risk is rare," according to an independent critique of the survey by Bradley Woodruff and Reinhard Kaiser of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bloodletting in Darfur began in February last year, when two non-Arab African rebel groups launched attacks primarily on government and military targets to press demand for a greater share of power and resources for the region.
The government is accused of trying to put down the rebellion by backing armed Arab herdsmen known as Janjaweed who long have competed with villagers over Darfur's scarce resources. The escalating violence has been described by the US as genocide. The UN has said Darfur is the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The survey, the most scientifically accurate study of the death toll from the conflict, included 43 percent of the estimated 500,000 displaced within West Darfur.
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
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