Darfur runs risk of becoming another ‘silently escalating’ forgotten emergency
FEATURE STORY: Hege Opseth/ACT-Caritas
PUBLISHED: August 31, 2005
NYALA, SOUTH DARFUR, SUDAN -- A year after the conflict here captured the world’s attention, people who were driven from their land still express a deep fear of returning to their homes. Despite an international presence from humanitarian NGOs, United Nations agencies and African Union (AU) forces, the situation in Darfur is far from being resolved.
A delegation of senior staff of UK-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) recently visited South and West Darfur. The delegation included CAFOD's international director, Lesley-Anne Knight, and NCA's general secretary, Atle Sommerfeldt, and its international director, Knut Christiansen. What they witnessed was clear—that people who have been internally displaced (IDPs) need active protection for them to be able to safely collect water and firewood and to be able to work their land without being attacked. The camps where people have sought shelter have become their prisons.
“We need to address the root causes of the conflict and reach out to all parties -- the nomads, people who have been internally displaced and other affected communities. Peace building at the grassroots is crucial,” says the top management of the CAFOD and NCA.
“The number and the resources of the AU troops are simply inadequate in the scale of what is happening in Darfur. A year on since the start of the ACT-Caritas operation, the number of IDPs has more than doubled. We must not allow Darfur to be another forgotten emergency, silently escalating,” the delegation declared.
Sudan’s future
With the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), Sudan Social Development Organisation (SUDO) and Sudanaid implementing many of the programs of the joint operation in Darfur, ACT-Caritas has a unique opportunity to assist at a grassroots level. In the field, Muslims and Christians are working side-by-side to help those affected while addressing the issue of conflict resolution.
“The strength of our two networks working together is that we can continue advocating for conflict resolution at a political level, while at the same time actively engaging with the different parties in the field in Darfur," the delegation stated.
More than two years of conflict have brought immense suffering to the greater Darfur region -- everyone having endured the conflict in some way. Arab nomads are one of the parties that have been affected. Marginalized for decades, the conflict has only served to add to this community's woes. They have lost income they relied on for survival, as they can no longer sell their dairy products to the same villagers, they have been accused of having forced to flee. Having now lost their traditional survival methods has increased tensions in the region. A recent survey by ACT-Caritas teams in Darfur has shown that the situation for host communities and the nomadic Arab tribes are critical in some parts of the region.
“We will be fuelling the existing conflict if we only concentrate on IDPs without addressing the issues of host communities and nomads. It is a major and complicating picture in post-Garang Sudan. We have heard voices saying that the CPA has the potential of having a positive impact on the situation in Darfur. What is clear is that the implementation of the CPA will not fully succeed unless a solution is found for Darfur, but to get to a solution we have to address the needs of all parties," the delegation said.
Confidence
The joint ACT and Caritas emergency operation is one of the largest joint responses in the history of the two networks. More than 60 members of the two networks and other donors have contributed to the appeal. A year on, nearly half a million people have received assistance. In all 35 locations where programs are being implemented, the empowerment of IDPs themselves is has been key to the ACT-Caritas response—helping people acquire valuable skills through income-generation activities and volunteer training.
“What we have seen is that what the operation is achieving is more than the sum of what an individual member could have achieved in this situation," the delegation said. "These experiences have given us greater confidence that we will be able to develop a more professional and robust profile of church-based emergency response. We would want to invite member organisations to reflect on the value of coming together in an emergency. During the past year we proved that two major church-based networks coming together, working with and through members and partners in an emergency, can make a real difference."
The delegation from Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and UK-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) visited a rural clinic in Zalingei, West Darfur. More than 24,000 patients are treated in the programme clinics every month.
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