Sudan challenges UN Darfur death toll report

Sudan has officially protested over the report of the Undersecretary of the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, on the number of dead persons in Darfur, on ground that such a report lacks credibility, not realistic and depended on unathenticated statistics.

In a press statement to SUNA [Sudan News Agency], Sudan envoy to the United Nations, Ambassador Abd-al-Mahmud Abd-al-Halim, said that he conveyed to the UN Secretary-General Sudan condemnation and rejection of the unauthenticated and non realistic statistics which were presented by John Holmes. Ambassador Abd-al-Halim said that he informed the UN Secretary-General that the death figure which was forwarded by John Holmes was sheer speculations that would harm the situation in Darfur.

He added that the UN did not conduct any statistic and did not order carrying out of any study about the number of dead persons in Darfur, stressing that any study that is not conducted on professional, technical or institutional bases is regarded as lacking credibility.

Source: Sudanese Media Centre website, Khartoum, in Arabic 0000 gmt 26 Apr 08

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