Published on July 3, 2004 at 1:05 AM
To date the conflict in Darfur has led to some 30,000 people killed, 1.2 million internally displaced and at least 130,000 living as refugees on the Chad border.
Recent analysis of satellite imagery of Western Darfur commissioned by Amnesty International reveals the extent of targeted attacks. The data gives evidence of wide scale burning of villages and is consistent with earlier reports that the Janjawid, armed and backed by the government of Sudan have been engaged in a wide spread and systematic campaign of killing civilians, raping women and girls, abductions and displacement of certain communities.
According to the United Nations (UN), the crisis in the western Sudanese region of Darfur is currently the worst humanitarian and human rights catastrophe in the world.
The UN has estimated that out of a pre-conflict population in Darfur of 6.5 million people, approximately 2.2 million people are affected by the crisis. There are more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDP) within Darfur and there are approximately 160,000 refugees who have fled into neighboring Chad as a result of the conflict. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expects the refugee population to reach nearly 200,000 by the end of 2004.
Until late May, the Government of Sudan limited humanitarian access to conflict-affected populations outside the state capitals of Geneina, El Fasher, and Nyala. While the Government of Sudan has lifted some of the restrictive travel regulations, obstacles remain and security concerns continue to slow the flow of humanitarian assistance to Darfur.