Darfur: Tell us something new...

Thank you, United Nations, for confirming what most of us already knew...the death toll in Darfur is much higher than the U.N. has been quoting for years.

Many believe 300,000 is actually too low a figure. The Save Darfur Coalition has been quoting the figure of more than 400,00 for a very long time.

The Sudanese Ambassador says the number of dead is only 10,000...wait...what? 10,000? There's a big difference between 300,000 and 10,000.  The AP reports...

(The ambassador) said his government counts only people killed in fighting, saying there are no dead from malnutrition and starvation "because in Darfur there is no epidemics, no starvations."

Unfortunately, there's some more discouraging news...it seems a full deployment of U.N. peacekeepers will not happen until 2009.

There's a real need to pray for the peace of Darfur. Aid agencies, including some Christian organizations, have needed to routinely leave the region due to skirmishes and instability. This only hurts the people on the ground even more.

You can get more details on the situation, by watching my web exclusive news story here.

What do you think it will take to break the cycle of violence and disease in Darfur? I'd love to know your thoughts. Drop me an e-mail.