A survey was undertaken in the Darfur Region of Sudan, to collect retrospective mortality data for the famine period of 1984-5. During the famine the crude death rate trebled to 40 per thousand. Most of the excess mortality consisted of a sharp seasonal rise in child deaths. Infant and adult mortality rose only to a lesser extent. Fertility was lowered. The main causes of death were diarrhoeas, measles and malaria. Health factors, such as water supply, were associated with mortality differentials, and socio-economic variables such as wealth were not. It is argued that the excess mortality can be explained by severe localised health crises which caused increased exposure to life-threatening diseases. This conflicts with the established ‘starvation model’ of famine mortality, in which it is suggested that excess mortality occurs mainly through increased risk of death due to malnutrition. © 1989 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.