A newly found imprint of a vast, ancient underground lake in Sudan could end fighting in the Darfur region, a US geologist claims.

“What most people don’t really know is that the war, the instability, in Darfur is all based on the lack of water,” said Farouk el-Baz, director of Boston University’s Centre for Remote Sensing.

The potential water deposits were found with a radar that allowed researchers to see what lies beneath Sudan’s deserts. The images, Mr el-Baz said, uncovered a “megalake” of 19,110 square miles (49,500 sq km) – three times the size of Lebanon.

The US says that about 200,000 people have died in four years of rape, killing and disease in Darfur, describing the violence there as genocide. Sudan rejects the term and puts the death toll at 9,000.

Widespread environmental problems are a root cause of Sudan’s violence, the United Nations Development Programme said last month, noting that deserts had spread southwards by an average of 62 miles over the past four decades.

Many refugees from Darfur settled in regions that were once the domain of nomads, straining water resources and sowing conflict between farmers and nomads, said Mr el-Baz.

“If you find water for the farmers, in addition to that for the nomads, for agricultural production, to feed them, to give them grain, then you resolve the problem completely,” he said.

His initiative, 1,000 Wells for Darfur, has gained the support of Egypt, which has pledged to build 20 wells to begin with.

Mr El-Baz, who expects that ground-water deposits can be drilled for water, hopes for backing from other regional governments and has urged nongovernment organisations to get involved. (Reuters)

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