'Revealing and informative'
FEATURE STORY | PUBLISHED: March 30, 2007
NYALA, SOUTH DARFUR, SUDAN -- John Nduna, the Director of ACT International, speaks on his recent visit to Darfur, Sudan. He is the head of the coordinating office of ACT International in Geneva, which is responsible for coordinating the global humanitarian responses to emergencies and disasters of its 130 members.
What is the purpose of your visit?
As the co-chair on the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response board, I felt it important that I see for myself the situation and the context within which we are working in Darfur. Much has been said and written about Darfur, but it is difficult to talk about a situation when you have not seen it with your own eyes. This visit to our operation has given me the opportunity to speak to the internally displaced, to gain a general sense of the security situation, and to see the challenges ACT-Caritas and our national partners are facing every day.
What has been your impression of the situation and the ACT-Caritas programme?
The situation is complex and can be confusing, both in terms of what is really going on, and also regarding the overall status of those people who have been internally displaced (IDPs).
The authorities in Darfur would have you believe that the situation is good enough for the IDPs to return to their villages, but the truth is that the insecurity in the region makes people hesitant to return. And the situation is worsening -- with so much conflict the numbers of people displaced are increasing.
People in the camps say that there are lots of arms outside of the camps and in the villages, and that the people who have attacked them are not being disarmed. At Dereig camp, in Nyala town, people are saying that if they venture more than 5km from their camp, they risk being killed if they are a man, or abused, tortured and beaten if a woman. And given the proliferation of new armed groups -- whose purpose is not always clear -- means that the situation is increasingly complex and very precarious. This is not the kind of environment that is conducive to people returning to their homes.
In terms of the operation, the people in the camps we have been working with and assisting have expressed their appreciation to me for the work of ACT and Caritas, but they have also asked that we increase our services. In Khamsadegaig camp for example, people have asked us to increase our health services, not by building a new clinic, but by increasing the range of services. This of course is not an easy task as our own operation is itself strained because of the lack of security.
What has been the most unexpected aspect of your visit?
Of course I knew about the lack of security in Darfur, but to hear people describe it first hand hit me very hard.
The splintering of the armed groups is making this already complex situation very difficult to understand, as it is simply not clear what the various groups' aims and goals are. Added to this are the criminal 'gangs' taking advantage of the situation. And to try and simplify the conflict is not helpful either. This is a multi-faceted conflict and one approach will not solve the problems of Darfur. These are truly dark days for the people of Darfur and the world quite frankly, as the situation seems to be spiralling out of control.
What will you do as a result of the visit?
I am a member of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response and the director of ACT International's coordinating office. ACT is a big alliance of churches and agencies, which gives me personally the opportunity to engage our constituencies at various levels. Certainly, I can add my voice to those who are engaged in various advocacy efforts.
What can or should the international community do to address the crisis in Darfur?
I think there needs to be a more concerted effort by the international community to find a solution for a conflict that really is threatening the whole of Sudan, as well as the region. The humanitarian community is already putting pressure on those who have the power to address the issues. Personally, I don't think we can look at Darfur in isolation. By dealing with Darfur as a separate issue, we run the risk of doing more harm than good -- and surely, this is not what we are about. But this is not to say that the complexity of the conflict in Darfur is not heartbreakingly appalling. Flying over Darfur you see one burnt village after another -- what used to be someone's home is now only a dark circle on the ground. This conflict has stripped thousands of people of their defences and left them so utterly vulnerable to the depravations of people with agendas that are sometimes incomprehensibly violent. Which means that we have to continue working with people and at least, in consultation with them, at a bare minimum, see to it that they are safe and that opportunities are created for them to rebuild their lives.
