Darfur: putting people first – The Voice
February 26th, 2006
While the United Nations’ Security Council ponder options for a UN-led force to take over from the African Union in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, from the comfort of their New York Plaza headquarters, as many as 5,000 people in Darfur are dying every month.
Readying rations for people made homeless by Darfur fighting (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Almost three years to the day since the Darfur conflict began, 2 million people remain displaced, driven from their homes and farms by a government-backed militia known as the Janjawid, and caught in the crossfire between government troops and Darfurian rebel groups. And their plight looks set to worsen with recent fighting forcing aid agencies to suspend their operations on security grounds. The international aid agency GOAL was among the most recent casualties, forced to suspend part of their work in the wake of the tragic death of their nutritionist, Sudanese Hadja Hamid, who was killed in a helicopter crash during an evacuation from the fighting.
And worse, between 200,000-400,000 people are thought to have been killed. Various news, TV, NGO and UN reports and ample anecdotal evidence suggest that rape is commonplace, with hundreds of thousands of Darfur’s women having suffered.
One thing Darfur illustrates is that humanitarian relief cannot be divorced from security and politics. And irrespective of the bigger picture considerations of all actors, on the ground, and internationally, the first consideration for all concerned should be the Darfurian people, upon whom this conflict has exacted a terrible toll.
Naïve as this may sound – given the scale of the human loss so far – putting civilian protection first could potentially provide at least a spring-board for effective dialogue on the politically-divisive issues. (more…)
Between rocks and hard places in eastern Sudan – The Irish Examiner
February 13th, 2006
As Darfur burns, another region of Sudan lies in a precariously-balanced state of peace. Local grievances, the threat of natural disaster, and the possibility of war between neighbouring Eritrea and Ethiopia leave the humanitarian situation on the edge.
KASSALA, Sudan – A town of 250,000 people in eastern Sudan, Kassala sits eight hours drive from Khartoum, across cropland and semi-arid bush, and driving close where the British under Kitchener built the world’s largest irrigation project.
But the first thing you see as you come near the city are the Taka Mountains. As they emerge from the sun-glistened haze, on an otherwise prairie-flat topography, the rounded mountains look like giant rocks rolled across Sudan sometime back when there were gods or giants around to do such things.
The big rock in eastern Sudan: Taka Mt. viewed from Kassala (Simon Roughneen, February 06)
The second thing you see is the baked-dry river bed – a de facto hard place which will be without water until the next rainy season, due in July.
In 2003 the Algash River burst its banks. The annual rainy season – the lifeblood for the onion, mango, sorghum, orange and grapefruit harvest in the region – flooded the whole town, destroying some livelihoods and disrupting most.
As we passed over the main bridge leading into the town from Khartoum, all we saw and rippled and rocky sand carpet spread between the levees. But when the rains come in July, this semi-arid market city may once again turn into a riverain quagmire. (more…)
But war hurts more – OpenDemocracy
July 22nd, 2003
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-apologypolitics/article_1372.jsp
KOIDU, SIERRA LEONE – The sign outside the Fachima (native Kono for “peace”) Hall in the eastern Sierra Leone town of Koidu, capital of Kono District, says: “Lets rebuild Sierra Leone”. Or, rather, it would, were it intact. The top half of the sign lies in a muddy pool at the foot of the signpost, awaiting repair or replacement by the Pakistani Battalion of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (Unamsil) stationed only 300 metres away.
This may be a fitting image for a country whose reconstruction and stability is not only unsure, but reliant on external support – financially in the form of donor support amounting to almost 80% of the national budget for 2002, militarily in the form of 13,074 Unamsil troops.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for Sierra Leone is an integral part of this national rebuilding and post-conflict stabilisation. It originates in the controversial Lomé Peace Accords of July 1999, which infamously brought the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader and now Special Court for Sierra Leone indictee Foday Sankoh into government as deputy prime minister, and handed a blanket amnesty to all combatants. (more…)
