Ancient lake could help ease Darfur tensions

Scientists have discovered the underground remnants of an ancient lake in Sudan's arid Darfur region, offering hope of easing the water scarcity that lies at the root of much of the unrest in the region.

Decades of scarce water and other resources have stoked low-intensity local conflicts that eventually blew up into a devastating civil war. The four-year conflict has killed more than 200,000 people, displaced more than 2.5 million others and sparked a regional humanitarian crisis after feeding instability in neighbouring Chad and the Central African Republic.

"Much of the unrest in Darfur and the misery is due to water shortages," said geologist Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Centre for Remote Sensing, which led the effort that discovered the lake using radar data from space.

"There have been two long episodes of drought during the past 20 years, each lasting for about seven years," he said, adding that the drought aggravated tensions between Darfur's ethnic African tribesmen and nomadic Arabs.

The water reservoir lies underneath a former highland lake whose features are covered by wind-blown sand, researchers said. The ancient lake occupied an area of 11,873 square miles. The government of Egypt has pledged to drill the first 20 wells, and the UN mission in Sudan also plans to drill several more for use by its peacekeeping forces.

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when African tribesmen took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-led Khartoum government. The government is accused of arming militias blamed for the widespread rape and killing of Darfur civilians.