U.N. says Darfur dead may be 300,000

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - As many as 300,000 people mayhave died in the five-year conflict in Darfur, a dramaticincrease over earlier estimates of 200,000, a top U.N. officialsaid on Tuesday.

Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem said thefigure was grossly exaggerated and the United Nations cautionedreporters that the number was not a scientific estimate but a"reasonable extrapolation."

John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarianaffairs, mentioned the new estimate in a speech at a U.N.Security Council meeting on the conflict in the westernSudanese region.

"A study in 2006 suggested that 200,000 had lost theirlives from the combined effects of the conflict. That figuremust be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmessaid, 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.This figure only includes combat deaths because there is nofamine and no epidemic in Darfur, he said.

"These remarks by Holmes are not helpful, are not correct,are not credible," Abdalhaleem told Reuters. "He should tell uswho made that study, who commissioned it and how was it done."

Holmes was later asked by reporters to clarify hisestimate. He said he was "not trying to give an exact figure"and described 300,000 as a "reasonable extrapolation" from the2006 estimate for the current total number of people who havedied in Darfur of disease, hunger or in combat.

Holmes said the original 200,000 figure was based on a2-year-old study by the World Health Organization. He saidthere were no plans now for a new scientific study to determinethe precise number of deaths in Darfur caused by the conflict.

Asked if the figure could be even higher than 300,000,Holmes said: "I'm trying to be reasonable, conservative."

International experts also say more than 2 million havebeen driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, aregion that is roughly the size of France.

DEPLOYMENT DELAY

Holmes described a bleak situation in Darfur, where only9,000 U.N.-African Union peacekeepers have been deployed out aforce that is supposed to number 26,000.

"Darfur today is still characterized by insecurity,lawlessness and impunity," he said.

"Widespread human rights abuses continue to be reported inmany areas," he said. "A particularly worrying feature isevidence of high levels of sexual violence."

The joint AU-U.N. special representative for Darfur,Rodolphe Adada, said the peacekeeping force was "very unlikelyto achieve full operating capability before 2009," dashing U.N.hopes to have the full force in place by the end of this year.

"Maybe we could achieve 80 percent of the force by the endof this year," Adada told reporters after the meeting.

Abdalhaleem mostly blamed the United Nations for the delaybecause it had not secured enough helicopters and had notcomplied with Khartoum's demand that the troops be mostlyAfricans.

Western diplomats say Khartoum deserves much of the blamefor dragging its heels in approving troop contingents.

Holmes said Darfur aid workers also have been victims ofviolence. He reported 106 hijackings of their vehicles byrebels and their supporters so far this year, a 350 percentincrease over 2007, and accused the Sudanese government of notdoing enough to protect aid convoys.

(Editing by Bill Trott)