The United Nations believes that more than 180 000 people may have died in the troubled Darfur region in western Sudan.
According to the UN’s top emergency coordination official, Jan Egeland, the number refers to people who have died of malnutrition and disease, and does not cover those who have been killed in the conflict that started a little more than two years ago.
Previous estimates put the number of deaths, from violence as well as illness and starvation, at 70 000.
The human rights group Amnesty International has said it believes 50 000 people have died from violence.
The conflict in Darfur, which has been labelled the world’s worst humanitarian crisis by the UN, started in early 2003, when local rebels rose up against the government, demanding a fair share of the country’s resources.
The government responded by unleashing the Janjaweed militias, who have since been accused of committing a wide range of atrocities against civilians in Darfur.
In a report released last month, a UN-appointed commission stopped short of saying genocide had been taking place in Darfur, but said the atrocities carried out by government-backed forces amounted to probable crimes against humanity.
Nearly two million people have been forced to leave their homes since the conflict broke out, and about 200 000 have fled across the border to Chad. — Sapa-DPA