AFP June 18, 2007
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said global warming caused the Darfur slaughter, and warned more such conflicts may be looming. "The Darfur conflict began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change," Mr Ban said in a Washington Post opinion piece.
UN statistics show rainfall has declined by about 40 per cent over the past two decades, he said, as a rise in temperatures in the Indian Ocean disrupted the monsoons.
"This suggests the drying of sub-Saharan Africa derives to some degree from man-made global warming," the South Korean diplomat wrote.
"It is no accident the violence in Darfur erupted during the drought."
When Darfur's land was rich, he says, black farmers welcomed Arab herders and shared their water with them.
With the drought, however, the farmers fenced in their land to prevent overgrazing.
"For the first time in memory, there was no longer enough food and water for all. Fighting broke out," he said.
Sustained economic development
A UN peacekeeping force may stop the fighting, he says, and more than two million people may return to rebuilt homes in safe villages.
"But what to do about the essential dilemma: the fact there's no longer enough good land to go around?
"Any real solution to Darfur's troubles involves sustained economic development, perhaps using new technologies, genetically modified grains, or irrigation, while improving health, education and sanitation.
Sudan is not the only country with such problems, Mr Ban said, naming Somalia, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso as African countries with "food and water insecurity".
Khartoum agreed this week to accept 23,000 UN and African Union troops after four years of fighting, in which at least 200,000 people have died.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21923490-1702,00.html
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