Fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels in a mountainous area of Darfur has forced 73,000 people to flee their homes during the past month, the United Nations said.

Violence that began mid-January in Jebel Marra, which straddles three states in the western Sudanese region, has spurred about 30,000 people to seek shelter in Sortony in North Darfur state, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday in an e-mailed statement according to Bloomberg website on Wednesday.

The conflict has led to the deaths of as many as 300,000 people, mainly due to illness and starvation, with about 2.5 million people currently displaced, according to UN estimates.

Source: MENA