(adds quotes from U.N. officials, details) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, April 22 (Reuters) - An estimated 300,000 people may have died in the 5-year conflict in Darfur, a dramatic increase over earlier estimates of 200,000, a top U.N. official said on Tuesday. Sudan's U.N. ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem said the figure was grossly exaggerated. U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs John Holmes mentioned the new estimate in a speech at a U.N. Security Council meeting on the conflict in the western Sudanese region. "A study in 2006 suggested that 200,000 had lost their lives from the combined effects of the conflict. That figure must be much higher now, perhaps half as much again," Holmes said, according to a written text of his remarks. Abdalhaleem said Khartoum put the death toll at 10,000, slightly above the government's previous estimate of 9,000. "These remarks by Holmes are not helpful, are not correct, are not credible," he told Reuters. "He should tell us who made that study, who commissioned it and how was it done." Holmes gave no details on where his estimate comes from. International experts also say over 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France. Holmes described a bleak situation in Darfur, where only 9,000 U.N.-African Union peacekeepers have been deployed out a force that is supposed to number 26,000. "Darfur today is still characterized by insecurity, lawlessness, and impunity," he said. "Widespread human rights abuses continue to be reported in many areas," he said. "A particularly worrying feature is evidence of high levels of sexual violence." The joint AU-U.N. special representative for Darfur, Rodolphe Adada, said that the peacekeeping force was "very unlikely to achieve full operating capability before 2009," dashing U.N. hopes to have the full force in place by the end of this year. Abdalhaleem mostly blamed the United Nations for the delay because it had failed to secure enough helicopters and had not complied with Khartoum's demand that the peacekeepers be mostly Africans. Western diplomats say that Khartoum deserves much of the blame, accusing it of dragging its heels on the approval of peacekeeping contingents. Holmes said Darfur aid workers have also been victims of violence. He reported 106 hijackings of their vehicles by rebels and their supporters so far this year, a 350 percent increase over 2007, and accused the Sudanese government of not doing enough to protect aid convoys. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
U.S. military commander in Iraq General David Petraeus salutes during the 77th Iraqi Air Force day celebration in Baghdad's Muttana air base April 22, 2008. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani (IRAQ) ...
