Water find 'may end Darfur war'

A huge underground lake has been found in Sudan’s Darfur region, scientists say, which they believe could help end the conflict in the arid region. Desertification led the Arab nomads to move into South Darfur, where they came into conflict with black African farmers.

Last month, the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) said there was little prospect of peace in Darfur unless the issues of environmental destruction were addressed. It said deserts had increased by an average of 100 km in the last 40 years, while almost 12% of forest cover had been lost in 15 years.

The team used radar data to find the ancient lake, which was 30,750 km2 – the size of Lake Erie in North America – the 10th largest lake in the world.

Some 1,000 wells will be drilled in the region, with the agreement of Sudan’s government, the Boston University researchers say.

Analysts say competition for resources between Darfur’s Arab nomads and black African farmers is behind the conflict.

More than 200,000 Darfuris have died and 2m fled their homes since 2003.

Posted by Dilated_Rebel
Born and raised very humbly in a “small town” in southern California, I was a product of different worlds. Literally, part of my family descends from Mexico the rest from Portugal and Uruguay. This mixture had kept me from supporting any racist psyche found...

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