Insecurity in Darfur threatens aid
FEATURE STORY: Gillian Sandford/ACT-Caritas
PUBLISHED: September 21, 2005
NYALA, SOUTH DARFUR, SUDAN -- African Union (AU) peacekeepers have successfully restored stability to a troubled pocket of Darfur, Sudan, with robust patrols and a night presence.
The move comes in a month that has seen a deteriorating security situation across several parts of south and west Darfur. Banditry is rife, with humanitarian convoys regularly ambushed, civilians robbed and villagers forced to flee their homes.
The peacekeepers have been deployed in strength to the troublespot of Mershing, about 87 kilometres north of the hub-town of Nyala -- where the UN and many aid organisations are based.
The United Nations now report a much-improved situation thanks to the AU troop presence. Government of Sudan police and army are also patrolling in the area.
Bjørg Mide, director of the joint response between the two faith-based networks, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International and Caritas Internationalis, said, "We commend the African Union forces for decisively responding to our request and for helping to restore stability and security to the Mershing area."
But she added, "We are deeply concerned about the rising violence elsewhere: the attacks on civilians and humanitarian vehicles. A three-vehicle ACT-Caritas convoy was attacked twice in the past two days. This is unacceptable and of great concern to me."
ACT-Caritas lobbied for AU intervention after receiving reports that people living in Mershing -- already displaced from their home and living in camps -- were attacked as they ventured beyond the perimeter to farm land or to collect firewood. Armed assailants also looted convoys on approach roads to the nearby town of Manawashi, and in one incident, a driver was shot and killed.
Throughout September, incidents of violence have increased and in the last week, armed bandits twice attacked a convoy of ACT-Caritas vehicles.
On September 18, robbers ambushed a convoy on the road from Nyala south east to El Daein at a place called Khor Shorum. More than a dozen passengers were held at gunpoint, forced to hand over belongings - and the convoy was them allowed to continue to El Daein.
The following day (September 19) armed men attacked a two-vehicle convoy of ACT-Caritas and a partner agency returning from El Daein on the same road. This attack took place near a village called Kassib. The bandits took money and other valuables then allowed the convoy to go on to Nyala.
The UN and other international organisations have reported a raft of other incidents, with armed attacks on civilians and farmers on their way to and from market.
The violence has given added urgency to the ACT-Caritas call for an increase in AU forces. They are scheduled to increase from 3,000 to more than 7,000 by the end of September but this is to cover a vast region: Darfur is the size of France.
"The situation in Mershing underlies ACT-Caritas’ call for more AU forces with a stronger mandate that would empower them to defend civilians against attacks -- rather than simply monitor," said Mide.
