Darfur refugee camp exhibit in Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square is to be transformed into a refugee camp to highlight the plight of millions of people displaced from war-torn Darfur.

The United Nations refugee agency is setting up the camp beneath Nelson's Column so Londoners can experience the daily conditions suffered by refugees because of the five-year conflict.

The installation will feature four fivemetre by three-metre canvas dome tents used by the UN, which can sleep more than a dozen people. Smoke and the sounds of gunshots aim to make the Experience Darfur exhibition more lifelike. Cooking equipment, blankets, soap and buckets used in the camps will also be displayed.

The exhibition will be opened by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, to coincide with World Refugee Week. About 300,000 people have died and two million made homeless during the civil war in Darfur between rebels and militias backed by Sudan's government.