Darfur toll reaches 70,000: UN

A total of 70,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region, with hundreds still dying every day, a top UN official said Friday.

David Nabarro, head of the World Health Organisation’s health crisis action group, gave the new overall figure, saying malnutrition and disease meant the monthly fatality rate was about 10,000. The previous total death toll had stood at 50,000.

People were dying in Darfur, where fighting has forced over 1.5 million people to flee from their homes since February last year, despite aid efforts and the world continuing to underestimate the crisis, he stressed.

‘‘There are 70,000 that have died as a result of the conditions in which they are living. The humanitarian environment is still unsatisfactory in Darfur,’’ Nabarro told a news conference.