Ban Ki-moon United Nations Security Council approved sending 26,000 UN peacekeepers into the region to join 7,000 troops from the African Union. The resolution was heralded as a major breakthrough in confronting the Darfur conflict (although the United States labeled the conflict a "genocide", the United Nations has declined to do so). The first phase of the peacekeeping mission began in October 2007. Ban Ki-moon flew to Myanmar on 25 May 2008 to guide a conference with international agencies aimed at boosting donations for the nation, which was struck by Cyclone Nargis on 2 May 2008. The conference was initiated after Ban
Cyclone Nargis from Cyclone Sidr in the previous year and flooding earlier in the year, and a direct strike from Nargis would have resulted in destroyed crops due to strong winds. The United Nations estimated that 1.5 million people were "severely affected" by this cyclone. Estimates of the people missing were 53,836, with 84,537 confirmed dead. Some NGOs estimated that the final death toll would be over 100,000. At least 10,000 people were reported to have perished in the delta town of Bogale alone. Nargis was the deadliest tropical cyclone worldwide since the Typhoon Nina in 1975, which killed at least 229,000