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Brookings Institution
Darfur Forum on Protecting the Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur, the Realities of Relief Work, and Darfur’s International Political Situation
February 5, 2008
By Matthew Plocher
A panel of experts discussed the protection of internally displaced persons in Darfur at a forum held by the Brookings Institution on February 5.
First to speak was Gonzalo Vargas-Llosa, a senior policy adviser from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) who is presently working on protection efforts for internally displaced persons in West Darfur and has traveled to more than forty internally displaced persons camps in the region. His main purpose for the discussion was to describe the realities for both foreign and local aid workers on the ground. He then used the situation in Chad to show that the conflict in Darfur cannot be seen as a single occurrence. Rather it was just one aspect of a wider, regional problem. Internally displaced persons can create and/or exacerbate regional problems that can spread to other countries.
He said that there is a desperate hope among both internally displaced persons and aid workers that there will be increases in numbers of peacekeeping forces. Security is still the largest concern and impediment to the humanitarian process. “Sudan is a logistical nightmare,” he said, due in part to the complete lack of any infrastructure, but primarily because of the danger involved with travel and very little alternatives to braving the open road. Here he highlighted the need of more helicopters. Only two were commonly available, and these had to be shared by hundreds of people
But, he wanted to stress that everywhere he went, at some level, aid was still managing to get through, even to the most distant places. He attributed that to the Herculean efforts of the local aid workers, many of whom where Sudanese government employees. He went on to say that those working on the ground seemed to sincerely wish to help, and did so to the best of their limited abilities.
Vargos-Llosa’s favorite projects were the small scale reconciliation projects, involving the reuniting of communities through agricultural education programs, and youth education programs that where hoped to bridge the ethnic and tribal divides. These projects still needed much more funding.
Colin Thomas-Jensen is Policy Advisor to Enough: The Project to End Genocide and Mass Atrocities, overseeing field research in Sudan, Chad, Congo, and Uganda. He spoke from an international politics view point, regarding the issues of UN involvement, and Sudanese impediment, immediately saying that a lack of desire plays a major role in the lack of security, not simply a lack of ability or funds on part of the Sudanese government. He gave examples of Sudanese officials taking shopping sprees to Dubai, and sending their children to schools in Europe.
Thomas-Jensen then spoke about the two necessary aspects of any effective peacekeeping mission: physical/economic ability, and political will. In his opinion, the Darfur and Sudanese relief efforts have neither of those two things. Member states of the UN are hesitant to contribute to an effort that looks like it is going nowhere, and those efforts that are made continually messed up by the government in Khartoum.
He next stressed the importance of including those victimized by the conflict into the reconciliation process to represent sections of the internally displaced persons. He went on to say that since so many of those displaced are female, and some of the worst crimes of this conflict have been perpetrated on women, extra efforts must be made to include them into the reconciliation process, and to see what could be done to alleviate their situation in the camps.
Staying on the reconciliation subject, Thomas-Jensen insisted that the UN must abandon all hopes of unifying the rebels. Attempts at trying to bring them to the table under one banner or through one voice are impossible. In many instances they have deeper hatred for one another than for the Sudanese government. With every passing day the groups splinter. Additionally, the international community keeps underestimating the Sudanese government’s desire to stay in power no matter the costs. They are the single greatest impediments to peace. It is up to the UN and international community to impose a real penalty on Sudan for their meddling and contribution to the crisis. He also had no doubt that the recent rebellion in Chad was instigated by Khartoum.
Paul Miller, Africa Advisor at Catholic Relief Services, spoke about the ways in which aid can lead to reconciliation. He said his organization served several hundred people in southern Sudan and described their work as “Hit and Run Humanitarianism.” He used this term to illustrate, like Vargos-Llosa, that the dangers of Sudan make it very hard to establish a lasting presence in any area. He additionally stressed the varied tribal makeup of the internally displaced persons, and the importance of helping without antagonizing. In this regard, he also liked reconciliation projects that focused on education and economic interchange between the tribes. He concluded that the logistical problems are almost insurmountable without high-level diplomacy efforts.
In response to questions about women’s safety in the region, the panel recognized the existence of real problems. Vargas-Llosa said that he has seen several women’s centers that offered “safe zones” for discussion, but that they were chronically under funded, and did not really address the issue of a lack of female security. Both Vargos-Llosa and Miller agreed that the issue of fuel alternatives, to reduce the dangers faced by women when looking for firewood, needs to be solved. |
