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Response to Darfur crisis `scandalous'

British lawmakers said yesterday that the death toll in Darfur has been underestimated and is likely to be around 300,000, calling attacks against civilians in the western region of Sudan "no less serious" than genocide.

A report by the House of Commons' International Development Committee said a WHO estimate that 70,000 people had died from indirect effects of disease and hunger in the Darfur region was "a gross underestimate." The British report, published yesterday, says the total figure is likely to be "somewhere around 300,000." The International Development Committee said the WHO figure only counted those who died in camps for displaced people between March and mid-October 2004 and did not include people who died before reaching camps, or in inaccessible areas of Darfur.

The committee's report said the crimes committed in Darfur were "no less serious and heinous than genocide." It accused the international community of a "scandalously ineffective response" to the situation in Darfur, and said governments across the world were guilty of failing to deal with the crisis.

The report said early warnings about the emerging crisis were ignored, humanitarian agencies were slow to respond and the UN suffered from an "avoidable leadership vacuum" in Sudan at a critical time.

It also criticized the UN Security Council as driven by member states' interests in oil and exporting arms.

Baldry said the world's failure to protect the people of Darfur from the atrocities committed against them was a scandal.

"Crises such as Darfur require the world to respond collectively and effectively. Passing the buck will not do," Baldry said.
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