There can be no way forward for Darfur until all parties to the conflict stop fighting and stop attacks on civilians. Yet, at the moment, the violence continues, causing untold misery for millions of people—with thousands more attacked and fleeing their homes every week the conflict goes on. People across the world must let their politicians know that the suffering of so many Darfur citizens will be tolerated no longer. The international community must put greater sustained pressure on all parties to immediately cease hostilities and return to the negotiating table.
For five years the world has promised the people of Darfur that it will protect them from violence—yet there is still no peacekeeping force capable of giving civilians the protection they need and deserve. The new United Nations-African Union force, known as UNAMID, deployed at the start of 2008 but is still woefully under strength, with only a third of its 26,000 personnel on the ground and a lack of equipment, training, and political backing. The force urgently needs more international support. Getting UNAMID on the ground took 18 months of enormous political effort, but this will be wasted unless the force is made strong enough to actually protect people.
The humanitarian response in Darfur is among the largest in the world and has had an enormous impact on people’s lives. Early in the crisis, large numbers of people died of malnutrition and disease, but over time the mortality rates have been cut and people now have greatly improved access to vital services such as water, food, and healthcare. Yet daily targeted attacks on humanitarian workers are making Darfur an increasingly dangerous and difficult place to work. Oxfam’s staffers are still managing to assist over 400,000 people – but it is becoming ever harder to do so. The international community must ensure that all the many parties to the conflict respect international humanitarian law and allow aid to reach those who desperately need it.
Despite the vast humanitarian effort and the need for a stronger protection force, the only sustainable solution to the conflict is a political one. The peace process has stalled again recently and world leaders must provide sustained, coordinated leadership to reinvigorate efforts to unite the countless factions and bring all parties back to negotiations. Greater effort must be made to ensure such talks are truly representative of the people of Darfur, by increasing the involvement of civil society and marginalized groups, and reflecting the needs and concerns of all Darfur’s many ethnic groups.
While soldiers and militia fight, it is the ordinary people of Darfur who suffer. They want nothing more than an end to the conflict and to be able to get back to their normal lives – but they need our help to make this happen. People all over the world can help ensure their political leaders do not allow attention on Darfur to fade after five years. Darfur must not be allowed to become yet another “forgotten crisis.” To do so would condemn millions of its people to years more suffering.
]]>"We had no choice, but to evacuate our staff from N'Djamena where the situation has become extremely insecure," said Raphael Sindaye, Oxfam's acting regional director for West Africa. "Some of the evacuated staffers will work from Dakar to support teams continuing to provide life saving humanitarian relief to refugees and internally displaced people in the east of the country."
Oxfam still has its field teams in eastern Chad that continue to supply aid to more than 100,000 people.
The security situation remains very tense and uncertain, and Oxfam teams are closely monitoring the events.
"The movements of our staff have been limited, but we are continuing to deliver our programs in Goz Beida and Goz Amir in Eastern Chad," added Sindaye."We are concerned that if the fighting in N'djamena drags on it could increase insecurity in eastern Chad and hamper the aid effort. N'djamena is an essential supply route for humanitarian goods."
There are nearly half a million people displaced in Eastern Chad. The majority of them are refugees from the conflict in neighboring Darfur, Sudan. Oxfam's aid effort has been reaching more than 100,000 people in Chad with clean water, safe sanitation, food and public health promotion.
]]>"Life is water," says Oxfam's Brahim Abdel-Madjid. "Without water there is no life at all—enough water, sufficient water, good quality water."
Here at Koloma, that is what Oxfam is helping to supply to some of the 180,000 Chadians chased from their homes by recent waves of violence between rebel forces and government troops. About 7,400 displaced people have settled at Koloma, one of seven sites in and around Goz Beida in which Oxfam is now providing emergency services for a total of 52,000 people.
And for some, the help aid groups have offered, coupled with the advantages of being near a town like Goz Beida with its new hospital, mosque, and market, hold enough promise for a better life that home no longer beckons them.
"Some will not go back—even with security," says Abdel-Madjid, who is the team leader for Oxfam's public health education programs in the Goz Beida area. "Most of the people living in the temporary sites had never traveled to Goz Beida to see that there's a big market. You can trade. You can start a new life."
Clean water is certainly one of the lures—a benefit that has helped to soften the hardships many have experienced as their family members have been killed, their homes ruined, their villages abandoned.
In the mottled light inside a mat hut at Koloma, a crowd of women—and a baby or two—has gathered. These are the sushies—the female leaders of their communities. Sitting on the ground, folded in their colorful wraps, they talk about their lives since fleeing their villages and coming to this sandy sprawl of makeshift shelters. Abdel-Madjid translates.
Food is in short supply, they say. And they have no land to farm. To earn money to buy extra food, they gather wood in the bush to sell in the local market.
Many of them have lost everything in the conflict. Fatouma Sosal tells of the four huts that once belonged to her family in Tiero. All of them were burned down. She talks about the millet she used to grow in her fields and her lost self-sufficiency.
Kadjidja Mahamat says the days here at Koloma can be long, filled only with the chores of trying to keep her temporary household in order: cooking food in the morning—if there is food—washing her children's clothes, patching her hut.
But at least there is water—clean and ample—and for that the women are happy.
In their villages, says Abdel-Madjid, families used to drink from the same source in which they bathed and also shared with their animals, which left their droppings nearby. People were sometimes sick and their children would have "blajose," or bloody urine. But with clean water supplied from a large Oxfam storage tank erected at the edge of their settlement—and a new understanding of waterborne diseases and the importance of good hygiene—problems like diarrhea have disappeared.
"A lot of these people are coming from huts in the middle of the desert. They get to Goz Beida and suddenly they get clean water, schools, health care," says Sarah McHattie, an Oxfam program manager. "I don't think we'll see a big return."
The question of when—and if—displaced people will return to their villages is a complex one, says Poul Brandrup, Oxfam's country program manager in Chad. There are many factors people weigh in making that decision.
"They need to be convinced that they will be able to re-establish sustainable livelihoods," says Brandrup. "Safety is important. So are primary health services and water. And we are increasingly hearing their strong wish for their children to be able to attend school."
One of the realities is that the temporary settlements in which people can now access those essential services are, in fact, "artificial," says Brandrup. They offer limited possibilities for people to establish and maintain themselves over the long-term. For instance, without Oxfam?s assistance, communities could not sustain the kind of water systems—with deep boreholes and expensive diesel-powered pumps—on which they now rely.
"The displaced understand that it will not be possible for all to stay in the current sites," Brandrup adds. "At the same time, many villages have been destroyed and land taken over by others so return in those cases is no longer an option."
Economic and social development for rural villages may play a key role in some people's willingness to return.
"It is not possible to drill thousands of boreholes to replace the existing water systems," says Brandrup. "But people can learn to develop traditional open wells better and to ensure that water is not contaminated by animals or unsafe practices. This is, in most cases, the way to go when and if the displaced people can return to their villages."
Khadidja Saleh has already made up her mind about that—at least for the moment. She doesn't intend to leave Gassire, a settlement for 16,300 displaced people on the other side of Goz Beida.
Not far from the steady thump of an Oxfam generator pumping water for this temporary community, Saleh welcomes visitors into her home. A collection of three huts for her extended family, Saleh's improvised compound is like many crowded onto this dusty patch of earth, cobbled together from branches, plastic sheets, thatch, and grass matting.
The mother of six children, Saleh, her husband, and their family made it here safely after a three-day walk from their village of Fagatar—a place she does not want to go back to.
"Many, many people have been killed and no one took time to bury them," she says through an interpreter. "There will not be peace there."
Instead, she says, she would like to stay here and possibly farm a little plot where she can grow vegetables such as ochra—if she can get some land. It feels safe here, she added. And the water is close by and clean.
In Fagatar, Saleh spent about two hours each day fetching water for her family, lugging it home on the back of a donkey. Here, water taps are a short distance from her home. She and her children visit them four or five times a day, filling a 20-liter jug each time.
Even though there is not enough food for her family to eat here yet, Saleh is confident that the international aid groups that have streamed into the region to help will do just that—make sure that she, and the tens of thousands of other displaced villagers, will have at least the basics for survival.
"Here, the place is safe, so one day the food can come," she says.
But the challenges, including insecurity and lawlessness, that confront aid groups in this poor and remote region are enormous—and the needs of people seemingly without end.
As Saleh's visitors bounced in their truck away from Gassire, they passed a thin and tired-looking woman slapping the rump of donkey, urging it onward with its heavy load of a child and a battered pair of plastic water jugs. From the bottom of one, a steady drip of water caught the light. It drizzled from a rag plugging a hole—an afternoon's labor draining into the dust.
]]>I like to sleep. But by six o'clock the first rays of the sun are coming through the holes in the wall of my family's shelter, the cocks and donkeys start their shouting, and the camp starts to come to life. The first thing I do when I get up is pray. I ask God to look after my family, and bring peace to Darfur. Then I get on with the household chores... so many chores! I boil the water on the fire to make tea, I wash my brothers' and sisters' clothes, and then I clean the cooking pans. I don't enjoy cleaning and sometimes I'm tempted to do it very quickly, but Oxfam is always telling us to clean the pans thoroughly and I'm scared of getting sick if I don't!
By 8 a.m. I'm on my way to the community center. It's a short walk from my house and it's run by Oxfam. At the center I take lessons in hygiene and English. I like the hygiene class because I can see how to make changes in our house that keep my brothers and sisters healthy. Now whenever I see a woman not taking proper care of her latrine, or not cleaning her jerry can (for carrying water) I get very upset with her. I like the English class, too, but it's very difficult. Maybe next time we can speak in English, but I don't think so!
I am not married yet. Insha'allah—God willing—I will be soon. But there are few men my age in the camp. Most people here are women, old men, and children. Many younger men are away fighting. Or dead. There was a boy in my village who my friends used to tease me that I would marry, but now I don't know where he is. So for now I live with my mother, two little brothers aged 8 and 9, and two sisters aged 11 and 13. My father is no longer with us. I'm the oldest, which means I get to be in charge, but also that I have to do most of the work while my brothers get to play soccer.
At 10 a.m. it's time to go home and make breakfast. We have two meals a day—breakfast at about 11 a.m., and then dinner in the evening. I like to eat goat meat but here in the camp it is too expensive. My mother taught me long ago to make stew from vegetables, but it would be so much nicer with some chicken in it. I also like assida, which is one of our famous Darfur dishes. It's like a thick porridge made from sorghum. Back in my village, every time there was a celebration—a wedding, a birth, a new visitor—we would have roasted meat to eat and a big party in the village.
After breakfast I head to the Oxfam water point. I do this at least once every day. At the moment there are big queues. Today I had to wait for more than one hour and it was very hot. But the other women have to wait, too, so I get to catch up on all the news while I'm waiting. I usually take one of my little sisters with me to help carry the water home as it can be too heavy for one person.
We use water for everything. I can't even imagine what it would be like to be without it. Every time I eat I need water—to boil the food, to wash the vegetables, to get rid of the dirt and germs. Everything I drink is either normal water or boiled water for tea. I use the water to wash the clothes of the whole family. We don't have any animals but some of my friends' families have donkeys and the water also keeps them alive and healthy.
The afternoon is more of the same. Living in the camp I really notice how life feels very repetitive. I go to school, I cook and do chores, and then I do it all over again. In the afternoon I go back to study at the community center for an hour or so, and then I go home to prepare the evening meal. Even the food is usually the same.
I very rarely leave the camp. Why would I? Here there's a water point, a market, a community center. Outside there's danger—soldiers and guns. My mother goes out of the camp maybe twice a week to collect firewood, which we can use at home and sell what's left over. This is the only money we get. I feel guilty: It's so dangerous for my mother to do this. The women often get attacked or shouted at or shot at. They won't let me go with her. They say only older women should go as young girls are more likely to be attacked. Secretly I'm glad: I don't want her to go alone, but I don't want to go with her because I'm scared of the men.
When I first came here we saw the camp and the aid agencies and felt safe. Unhappy, but safe. Now even the camp is dangerous. At night nobody really goes outside their shelters. When I'm done cooking I stay home and study. I would like to do my English work but I have nobody to practice with. I study until it gets dark after eight o'clock, and then we go to bed and start the day again.
It's difficult for us here. Look at our shelter—it's very basic. This is not home. Soon the rains will come and then some of the shelters will be destroyed. What will happen to those people? I know the aid agencies are doing their best, but there are so many people here and everybody always needs something. I think the only way our lives will really improve is if we go home. But we can't go home because people are still being attacked. I will stay in Kalma until peace comes. I just hope it won't take too long.
]]>The achievements of Oxfam and other aid agencies in Darfur have been truly incredible. Jan Egeland, the former UN Humanitarian Coordinator, described the humanitarian response in Darfur as among the most successful in the world, and he was right. The high levels of mortality and malnutrition that we saw at the start of the crisis have been greatly reduced. Many people now have better access to water, sanitation, and education than they did before the conflict. However, other things have not improved. People in Darfur still live in daily fear of violence. Those living in camps cannot go outside without risking attack. The number of people in need of help keeps rising. There are now four million people in Darfur who rely on aid.
What are the biggest challenges Oxfam faces now in Darfur?
Safety and security is by far the biggest concern for both civilians and our staff. Our ability to reach people in need is decreasing due to hijackings and attacks on aid workers. Early in my time here I drove for hours through North Darfur, from El Fasher to our programs in Kebkabiya, through quite stunning scenery. Now this road is far too dangerous for us to use and we rely almost entirely on UN flights. In terms of security, we are operating at the very limit of what we can tolerate as an organization, and if the situation continues to deteriorate then we may be left with no option but to withdraw from Darfur. The humanitarian impact of this could be catastrophic. It's vital that the world leaders do more to ensure an end to the violence so that aid agencies can continue our life-saving work.
The crisis is now in its fifth year. Is there any sign that Darfur will move on from being a humanitarian emergency and into a development and recovery stage?
Oxfam has been working in Darfur for more than 20 years, carrying out development work with local communities. We all hope that we can resume this as soon as possible. But at the moment Darfur is still an enormous humanitarian crisis and we cannot resume large-scale development work until there is a sustainable political solution to the conflict. People continue to be attacked and displaced by the thousands. We are still seeing people arrive in the camps where we work. The situation in Darfur is incredibly complex and we have to be very careful. For example, many of the villages that people have fled from are now inhabited by other communities, and if we were to provide development assistance to them we would risk legitimizing this.
What has been your proudest achievement in your time here?
The relationship between non-governmental organizations and the Sudanese government has been complicated and at times difficult. Back in early 2004 we just could not get our staff members the necessary visas and permits to get to Darfur and respond to the urgent needs there. It was very frustrating. Our staffers have since done a wonderful job in building a working relationship with the authorities—both in Khartoum and at the field level—and as a result these problems have now been eased considerably. Without this success, we would not have been able to have such an impact on the ground and provide water and assistance to half a million people.
And your biggest frustration?
When I took up the post of country program manager, Darfur was one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. Today the security situation for people there is perhaps even worse, and the prospect of peace seems as far away as ever. It has been incredibly frustrating to see the hard work of our staff thwarted by insecurity in so many places. In Gereida in South Darfur, for example, the team did a magnificent job to set up water supply to 130,000 displaced people. But since then we have had to withdraw from the area because of insecurity. Across Sudan there are still many challenges. Marginalization and poverty are still endemic, and there are increasing threats to the nationwide Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Finally, what personal memories will you take from working in Africa's largest country?
Outside Sudan, very little is known about the country, its people, and culture. What does get attention is mostly war and human suffering. Despite the enormous problems in the country, the Sudanese people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. I can honestly say that in my years of working around the world, my job in Sudan has probably been the most satisfying and enjoyable. The Sudanese are also extremely resilient people. It is incredible to go to the camps in Darfur or to the harsh deserts of the east and see how people cope in the face of adversity. It makes me feel confident for the future that Oxfam can work closely with local communities to help build a better Sudan.
]]>More than four years of fighting in that remote western region of Sudan has forced 2.5 million people from their homes. Many of them have flocked to overcrowded camps for safety. Others have squeezed into towns bursting with displaced people.
As the co-founder of a highly successful fundraising initiative, Nick helped to raise more than $300,000 for the people of Darfur. But not content to stop there, he approached us here at Oxfam with an idea: If he could visit Darfur he could help create a vital link between a growing group of youth activists here in the United States and Darfur teens forced to spend years in the camps.
Yanked from their homes and villages—and the social and civic framework those places provided—Darfur's youth are now growing up in an environment riddled with fear and boredom. Nick heard about their hunger for places to gather, for simple pleasures like balls with which to play sports, for basic improvements to health standards, for books, for safe ways to get to school—and the list goes on.
Before Nick left, we asked him what the single most important thing was that he wanted to accomplish on this mission. He said he hoped to bring back an experience that would touch the hearts of American teenagers. He wanted to find a way for his friends—and teenagers like them—to identify with the youth of Darfur and feel moved to help them as peers.
His personal goal? "To define us as a generation that takes action and one that cares about such important causes as the one in Darfur."
]]>I went to Darfur as a youth ambassador for Oxfam America—to learn about the lives of young people trapped in camps and overcrowded towns by the conflict that has riddled the region since early 2003. Some of them had spoken to me with passion about the need for security in a place where allegiances shift regularly and lawlessness rules. Whenever I heard gunshots shatter the air, their words came back to me with a whole new urgency. This was what they had been talking about. I felt their fear.
Growing up in a quiet hill town in western Massachusetts, I was not prepared for the level of violence that clouds the lives of people in Darfur. And after speaking to youths in camps and villages, it was clear to me that the first priority for the region must be a cease-fire. The world's politicians must do more to make those responsible for the conflict stop attacking civilians.
My journey had started in Khartoum, Sudan's sprawling capital, which lies at the intersection of the White and Blue Niles. I had acclimated myself to Sudanese culture with the help of exceptional individuals such as Saleh Majid, Oxfam America's program coordinator in Sudan, and Ahmed Hamad, Oxfam's driver. I had the opportunity to visit Saleh's community, Omdurman, and represent the United States in a game of soccer with the local boys. I did not stand a chance!
Ahmed exposed me to Sudanese culture by taking me to eat at Sudanese restaurants, showing me around the capital, and teaching me the Arabic names for everything. One day, he took me to the banks of the Nile River outside of Khartoum where locals come to picnic and wash their cars in the Nile. Some of Ahmed's friends explained with gusto that, "The situation in Darfur is normal!"
However, once I finally made it to Darfur, I discovered that the needs of youths there were far more serious than I had expected based on those Khartoum conversations. With Saleh, I traveled to areas such as El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. Nearby, three camps filled with thatch huts and plastic-roofed shelters serve as home for nearly 200,000 displaced people. In the Abu Shouk camp, the youths who I had the opportunity to speak to asked for the tools to be able to rebuild their communities. They wanted things like better education at the secondary school level, vocational training rather than strictly intellectual education, and places for youths to convene so they could socialize and exchange ideas. In Darfur, people my age—the region's next generation of leaders—are terribly frustrated by their lack of representation. All community decisions are made by elders, known as umdas, and many of the youths feel that the ideas of these older leaders are outdated.
At Abu Shouk, I formed a special bond with the young man who helped me as an interpreter—a man just a few years older than me whose family had fled their village and was now living in the camp. His name was Ahmed Yousif. He told me about his own journey to the camp—about the theft of his family's livestock and his horse—and about the education he had received in El Fasher. Ahmed was one of the lucky ones in Darfur: He had graduated from the local university. I was overwhelmed by his strength and stunned—not for the first time—at the capacity of the human spirit to endure hardship.
Traveling with Saleh deeper into Darfur, we visited the town of Kebkabiya—a place made mostly of the traditional, round, thatch huts that I had seen so often in Darfur, as well as some brick and wood structures. The town is surrounded by rolling plains and jagged mountains that turn from green to dusty red, depending on the season. After the crisis in Darfur erupted more than four years ago, about 60,000 people from the surrounding area fled from their villages to seek safety in Kebkabiya. Oxfam is working in the area to provide for the needs of the community.
I talked to boys and girls from a secondary school class in Kebkabiya who, after asking first for increased security and a ceasefire, requested such simple things as shovels to fill in standing pools of water in their school yard that serve as breeding grounds to mosquitoes that can carry malaria. Many of the young men and women complained that they could not afford to go to school, that there were very few books, and that they had to pay fees to purchase the few that are available. Transportation to and from school is difficult due to seasonal streams, called wadis, that often block roads.
However, all of the youths that I spoke to in Darfur shared a common resilience and belief that they were capable of lifting themselves out of the poverty and despair that has now fallen across the region. Provided they have a forum to share ideas and be heard by the umdas, as well as basic tools such as vocational training and continued humanitarian support, the next generation of men and women in Darfur are confident they will be able to build their communities back stronger and better than before the crisis began.
]]>The agencies—Concern Worldwide, Goal, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam International, and World Vision—have demanded that all parties urgently agree to, and maintain, a ceasefire with immediate effect, and ensure that aid workers are able to reach people in need.
“If the deterioration is allowed to continue, the impact on civilians could be devastating,” said Paul Smith-Lomas, a regional director for Oxfam. “With new displacements and attacks, the presence of aid agencies is more important than ever. Yet every day brings one huge blow after another to aid efforts.”
With access to displaced people already at its lowest point since mid-2004, five major areas suffered significant withdrawals of staff members in the first week of December alone: El Fasher and Kutum in North Darfur; El Daein and Shearia in South Darfur; and Kulbus in West Darfur. Although hopefully temporary, such evacuations are becoming more frequent, restricting the humanitarian response in a region where nearly four million people are now dependent on aid agencies for essential services such as food, water, and health care. Humanitarian agencies in eastern Chad are also finding it increasingly difficult to operate.
“The whole region is increasingly complex and uncertain,” said Patty Swahn, the International Rescue Committee’s regional director. “While we all remain fully committed to helping the people of Darfur, frequent evacuations of programs are making it incredibly difficult to deliver aid effectively. Blame cannot be laid solely on one particular group. Everyone involved in the conflict must respect humanitarian operations.”
Examples of the violence that has spread across the region since Dec. 1 include:
South Darfur:
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North Darfur:
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West Darfur:
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Recent months have seen a steady deterioration in the ability agencies have to reach people in need. In November, one agency was unable to properly access 19 of its 22 program locations, affecting 175,000 people. In Kalma camp in South Darfur, which shelters 90,000 people, agencies are losing one day’s work a week due to rising violence inside the camp.<
p>Since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement last May, violence against civilians and aid workers has increased, and an estimated 200,000 or more newly displaced people have arrived in Darfur’s camps. These camps have been the last source of refuge for many civilians, yet now they are increasingly rife with weapons and armed groups. Civilians are suffering doubly because of the violence, which either catches them up directly or prevents aid agencies from providing essential services.
“We have no blankets, no plastic sheeting for shelters, and no security,” said one man recently arrived in Otash camp in South Darfur.
]]>“The crisis in Darfur is a global concern and as a global community we have a responsibility to take action,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace. “MySpace’s reach gives us an extraordinary opportunity to spread the word and empower individuals to help address the horrors in Darfur.”
On Oct. 21, more than 20 Rock For Darfur concerts will be held across North America in an effort to unite artists nationwide during one day of already-planned performances. All bands involved in the Rock for Darfur event will donate portions of ticket proceeds to Oxfam’s relief efforts in Sudan and neighboring Chad. Bands participating in the Rock for Darfur campaign represent all genres including pop, rock, country and reggae and will be performing in all corners of the country.
Rock for Darfur concerts on Oct. 21 include:
Alice in Chains, Winston-Salem, NC, Millennium Center
Ziggy Marley, Medford, OR, Main One Center for the Arts
The Fray, Toronto, Ontario, Kool Haus
TV on the Radio, Philadelphia, PA, Starlight Ballroom
Atreyu, Baltimore, MD, Sonar
+44, Sacramento, CA, The Boardwalk
Secret Machines, San Diego, CA, SOMA
Insane Clown Posse, St. Petersburg, FL, Jannus Landing
Citizen Cope, Seattle, WA, Showbox
Teddy Geiger, Melbourne FL, King Center
Jamie Cullum, Reno, NV, Reno Hilton Theater
Amos Lee, Washington DC, 9:30 club
The Lost Trailers, Atlanta, GA, The Peachtree Tavern
Hotel Café Tour, Louisville, KY, Phoenix Mill Tavern
Slightly Stoopid and Pepper, San Francisco, CA, Warfield
The Wood Brothers, Charleston, SC, The Music Farm
Jars of Clay, Minneapolis, MN, Marantha Hall
Gov’t Mule and Donavon Frankenreiter, Spokane, WA, The Big Easy
Benevento Russo Duo, Asheville, NC, The Orange Peel
Bob Weir & Ratdog, Milwaukee, WI, The Rave
"I've been watching the news reports and it brings tears to my eyes and anger to my heart when I see what is happening in Darfur right now,” said musician Ziggy Marley. “How can we sit by and not find a way to help? Together every little bit will add up.”
The PSA featuring Samuel L. Jackson will air in theaters preceding various Twentieth Century Fox films during the month of October in addition to broadcast, cable and various Internet properties including MySpace which, according to comScore Media Metrics in August 2006, has more than 30 billion page views per month.
The online campaign on the Rock for Darfur profile features video from George Clooney’s recent trip to Darfur, an excerpt from the forthcoming documentary about the crisis, The Devil Came on Horseback, and background information for individuals to host Darfur Dialogues around the country on October 21, the day of the Rock For Darfur concerts. Individuals can contribute to Oxfam’s relief efforts through the page as well.
"More than three years of violence in Darfur has left half the region’s population dependent on international aid for survival, and there are untold thousands more who can't even be reached," said President of Oxfam America, Raymond C. Offenheiser. "Such a catastrophic humanitarian situation will not improve without an end to this brutal conflict. The people of Darfur urgently need - and deserve - our help. It's incredibly heartening that MySpace, which can rally millions of people to this cause, is working so hard to educate the world about this crisis."
Limited edition Rock For Darfur T-shirts are available from SuperExcellent by Krista Allen and are printed on Edun Live shirts. The shirts can be purchased through www.myspace.com/RockForDarfur and www.BandMerch.com/RockForDarfur with all T-shirt profits going to Oxfam. BandMerch is waiving all transaction fees to sell the shirts for program supporters.
]]>The agencies—CARE, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam International, and World Vision—joined together to express alarm at the rising violence and deteriorating humanitarian access since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement on May 5. They warned the increasing insecurity is crippling their ability to reach people in need, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Besides the eight deaths, July saw many other aid workers attacked and intimidated, and there were more than 20 incidents of humanitarian vehicles being hijacked or stolen.
“The targeting of humanitarian workers is completely unacceptable,” said Paul Smith-Lomas, the regional director for Oxfam, one of several organizations to have a staff member killed in recent weeks. “Since the signing of the agreement, Darfur has become increasingly tense and violent, which has led to the tragic deaths of far too many civilians and aid workers. A full and comprehensive ceasefire must be implemented immediately.”
Tensions within many of the camps for the region’s two million displaced people have risen steadily due to opposition to the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). Violence is increasingly quick to break out, putting at risk aid workers who are delivering vital services. Meanwhile, the under-resourced and poorly supported African Union police and troops who are supposed to be providing security appear to have reduced the scope of their efforts to protect civilians since the DPA’s signing.
The four aid agencies called upon those responsible for protecting civilians and creating a secure environment for humanitarian workers, particularly the African Union, to prioritize having a presence around the clock and regular patrols in areas around the camps.
The humanitarian response in Darfur is the largest in the world and has managed to stabilize the horrific health and nutritional conditions that were seen in the early stages of the conflict. However, the agencies warned this response is now under threat. Some areas of Darfur are seeing levels of malnutrition once again on the rise and outbreaks of acute diarrhea in the vast camps.
“The danger is clear. If we cannot access the people who need assistance then the humanitarian situation is going to rapidly deteriorate,” said Kurt Tjossem, a spokesperson for the International Rescue Committee. “ As usual in Darfur, civilians are the ones to suffer, from being attacked, displaced, and also from being denied access to the assistance that they urgently need.”
In the last month, more than 25,000 people have fled their homes in North Darfur in the face of fighting and attacks on their villages. Three and a half million people throughout Darfur are dependent on humanitarian aid, yet vast areas such as the Jebel Marra mountains and virtually the entire northwestern region are almost completely inaccessible to aid agencies due to the violence and insecurity. Recent fighting has forced many agencies operating in and around Kutum in North Darfur to temporarily suspend their programs.
The agencies called on all parties engaged in the conflict—those who have signed the DPA and those who have not—to immediately adhere to the ceasefire and allow humanitarian operations unhindered access to the people in need. They urged the international community to do more to pressure all sides to end the ongoing violence.
]]>More than 10 villages in the southeastern border area next to Sudan's troubled western Darfur region have come under attack in the last several days, forcing the hurried evacuation of men, women and children.
Frightened families told of well-armed men on horseback storming their villages, stealing their possessions and scorching their crops. There were dozens of injuries, and dozens of deaths, most of them from gunshot wounds.
"Things are very, very desperate and are only likely to get worse. People are suffering; they are drinking dirty water and have nothing to eat," said Roland Van Hauwermeiren, the leader of Oxfam's humanitarian operations in eastern Chad, after a visit Thursday to some of the burned villages and conversations with new arrivals to the overflowing convergence sites in the southeast town of Koukou.
"We are mostly seeing women and children, who tell us that there are still people hiding in the bush, waiting until they can come," he said.
>The string of attacks is the latest incident marking the rapid decline of security in eastern Chad, due both to the deteriorating situation in Darfur and homegrown struggles for power.
Clusters of displaced people have converged on the only safe places in the region -- the refugee camps where humanitarian agencies provide food, water and medicine to more than 218,000 Sudanese refugees, as well as water to the surrounding communities. <
p>As their numbers increase so does the pressure on limited supplies of water, food and medicines.
'Where last month Habile was home to 800 newly arrived families, there were nearly 4,000 more on Friday morning,'' said Van Hauwermeiren, who watched a woman give birth, unattended, on a patch of dirt during his visit to Habile on Thursday.
"Families are living without water, without sanitation and in desperate need of health care," said Van Hauwermeiren.
As part of an interagency emergency operation, Oxfam has begun setting up mobile water pumps. Emergency tapstands, pumps and pipes will be erected in coming days and plans are in place for installing an emergency tank that can store 95 cubic meters of water: two days' supply for 5,000 people.
Humanitarian workers travelling on the road from Goz Beida report that hundreds of people are travelling there on foot, carrying only the bare essentials they were able to salvage from their burned and looted villages.
"A lot of people are on the move, and they are not sure where they are going to go," said Van Hauwermeiren. "What they are sure of is that they will not be going home because it is just not safe."
Oxfam is calling on the Chadian authorities to move quickly and stabilise a situation that threatens to veer dangerously out of control and provoke further suffering within the civilian population.
"It is critical that humanitarian workers are able to reach the displaced populations in the areas near Goz Amir refugee camp in eastern Chad," said Van Hauwermeiren.
"Our biggest challenge right now is security, and it's only going to get worse, from what we are hearing from the populations. If we start moving stocks and equipment to the field and we are compromised by insecurity, and stuck in the middle of the road, we won't be able to help anybody."
]]>One of the remarkable things about Darfur is the number of people who are still volunteering with health committees after three years of living in Abu Shouk and Al Salaam camps outside of North Darfur's capital of El Fasher.
About 60 percent of the original committee volunteers at Abu Shouk have continued with their work. At nearby Al Salaam camp, the number is 80 percent. Their help is pivotal to the success of Oxfam's public health work in the camps. Every week they spend several hours visiting households in their allocated blocks and inspecting the surrounding areas.
They go shelter to shelter talking with families and sharing information on good hygiene. They check latrines for cleanliness and wear. And they instruct families on how to keep their water clean by making sure the jerry cans in which they store it are scrubbed with powdered soap and chlorine.
"We wanted to serve our people and to raise the awareness of the population so that everyone's at the same level," says Kaltoum Ali Asad, a volunteer at Abu Shouk.
"If we don't volunteer to do something the people would suffer and there'd be outbreaks of diseases and illnesses," adds Namma Saed Haroun at Al Salaam camp. "If we didn't volunteer it would be us who would eventually suffer, so we will continue to volunteer."
Their efforts win high praise from the agency.
"The volunteers work really hard," says Hussaam Eddin Mirghani, Oxfam's team leader at Abu Shouk. "They volunteer because they're afraid of diseases, especially diarrheal diseases, spreading throughout the camp. The volunteers really feel the necessity to support their communities and their people, who are really suffering in this dreadful situation."
Camp life is bleak. Ahmed Eysa, who has lived at Abu Shouk for three years with is family, makes that clear.
"Life here is horrible," he says. "It's full of difficulties, and we don't have any solutions in our hands. There are no choices for the people living here in the camp."
But Eysa has made one choice—an important one that will make a difference to others in the camp. He chose to volunteer, and he has continued giving his time for three years.
"We have to adapt to our situation and we really need to respond," he says. "There's no way we could give up."
Soon, the rains will come and fall heavily. Living conditions in the camps will deteriorate, and the threat of diseases like cholera, malaria, and diarrhea will rise. Then, the job of the health committee workers will be even more vital.
]]>"Here, in the camp, we are sitting with nothing to do," said a woman named Khadeja, her tedium heightened by memories of what she used to do. "In the village we were very active all the time—working on the farms, trading in the markets, herding animals. Here, there are no job opportunities. No income."
Without money, it's difficult for families to get everything they need.
"Everything here is for sale," said a man. "Back home it cost you nothing. You had it on the farm and if you had a surplus you could take it and exchange it for other things in the market."
At some of the camps, people are able to find jobs, but the pay is poor and the work can be exhausting. Kaltoum Ali Asad , a mother of eight children, occasionaly picks up a bit of work in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. It's right next to Abu Shouk camp, which has been her home for the past three years.
"Sometimes I'll walk to El Fasher town and find a job cleaning, sweeping, washing clothes," she says. "I'll get 75 cents for washing a dozen pieces of clothing, which takes all afternoon. There isn't much you can buy for 75 cents. Maybe a bundle of firewood."
In the past, gathering firewood was one of the chores that Asad devoted time to. But she has stopped because it is unsafe to leave the safety of the camp to collect it. Now, she buys her wood from the market and a bundle doesn't last very long—perhaps just enough to cook one meal, but no more.
"Food is another challenge," says Asad. "The children might go for a month without the food we think is valuable for them—fruits, vegetables, meat. Meat is very expensive: $5 for a kilo, and I don't have the money to buy it, and there are no adequate vegetables I can get as a substitute."
For children, who rise at dawn, household chores can consume a good part of the day, especially if one of them is wood gathering. They tell of walking for five hours, in groups of boys and girls up to 10 strong. Collecting grass to hawk in the markets is another task children assume, though a sale can take a long time. Preparing meals and washing are chores that fall to the girls, but both boys and girls fetch water. And if school is open, children attend classes between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
When darkness comes, everyone retires.
"We're too scared to go out when it's dark," says one girl. "We go to sleep."
Fourteen-year-old Mahmoud sums it up this way. "I've been here three years with my mother and father, six brothers and three sisters," he says. "We're not happy with the life here. I'd like to be living back in my village—like it used to be."
]]>“If we don’t get more fuel for the water pumps and fresh people in to run the aid effort, we will be forced to turn off the taps for 110,000 people within the next three weeks at best. We are calling on the UN and donors to organize an air lift from neighboring Cameroon and a reliable food and fuel supply line in order to keep providing clean water and humanitarian aid to refugees and displaced Chadians,” said Nick Roseveare, Regional Director for West Africa.
The aid effort is running on empty. Oxfam International will face shortages of cash, fuel and food within the next three weeks, if the security situation does not improve.
“We have around three weeks of stock that will allow us to keep our operations going in eastern Chad, but our top priority is to be able to rotate our staff to keep the program going,” said Roseveare.
The fighting has completely cut off the landlocked eastern region from the rest of the country and the outside world for almost a week. International flights have stopped. There have been no flights between Ndjamena and the rest of the country for one week.
Oxfam International's operations are focused on providing water and sanitation, protection and health promotion to more 110,000 people. There are nearly half a million people displaced in Eastern Chad. The majority of them are refugees from the Darfur conflict.
Oxfam International has evacuated international staff from the capital but is keeping staff in the east to continue its operations. They are delivering life-saving water operations and they are stretched to full capacity, working around the clock.
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