KIM LAWTON, guest anchor: Violence also escalated in Sudan's Western Darfur province. Human rights activists accuse the Sudanese government of supporting Arab militias, called "janjaweed," who are attacking black villagers. U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist was in the region. He said what is happening in Darfur amounts to genocide. A European Union fact-finding team this week declined to call the situation genocide, but said widespread atrocities continue. The United Nations has given Sudan to the end of this month to take action.

Joining me now is Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services. He was also in Darfur last week. Ken, tell us about what you saw and what you heard.

KEN HACKETT (President, Catholic Relief Services): Well, the situation is tragic. As we visited the camps of the displaced people we saw desolation and fear, and in some cases, a lack of hope. There's an awful lot of people -- almost 1.5 million people -- who have been forced to flee their homes because of attacks from militia gangs who have raped, who have burned their homes, who have killed. And these people are now living in the most desolate of conditions in just terrible circumstances.

LAWTON: What were some of the needs that you saw -- the humanitarian needs?

Mr. HACKETT: Up to this point in time, there isn't adequate food or medical supplies. The water supply needs to be improved. As the rains come, there's the threat of some -- even possibly cholera. This is an enormous area, about the size of Texas, and these refugees are spread throughout the area. So reaching them is a major challenge. At the same time, that challenge is aggravated by the insecurity in the area. There are certain roads that you can't go down because of this fighting, or there's been shooting or attacks by the militia. So getting the supplies in in a timely way is going to be one of the major hurdles.