Refugees and IDPs
Darfur: To the Victor Go the Spoils
Published November 17, 2009 @ 04:57AM PT
Is the genocide in Darfur complete?
Michael Gerson's provocative op-ed in the Washington Post last week argues that Khartoum has essentially achieved its "policy aims" in Darfur by "targeting disfavored ethnic groups, destroying their way of life and forcing millions into camps," and is set to seal the deal with a newly-announced plan to close camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur early next year. The troubling report comes despite the fact that numerous international observers, including the African Union's own panel on Darfur, recognize that the security situation remains too volatile to allow for safe returns, and that issues of land and property must be carefully dealt with in order to facilitate peaceful repatriation.
But Khartoum is clearly concerned with none of this. As Darfur expert Bec Hamilton wrote, the desire to close down the IDP camps goes hand-in-hand with President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party's (NCP) hell-bent desire to "legitimately" win next year's presidential elections.
But IDP issue goes beyond the NCP's plan to, as Enough blogger Amanda Hsiao aptly puts it, "sweep the IDP problem under the rug in time for elections." Getting back to Gerson's point, permanently (and forcibly) resettling 2.7 million Darfuri IDPs to a location of the government's choosing could very well be a last grand stand in the effort to eliminate the influence, if not fully the existence, of groups presenting a threat to the NCP's rule.
Aid Worker Attacks in Chad a Sign of Worse to Come?
Published November 13, 2009 @ 04:37PM PT
I'd like to think that there's a special place in a particularly fiery afterlife for anyone who attacks humanitarian aid workers.
The UN announced today that six international humanitarian agencies are suspending operations after a French ICRC worker was kidnapped and a Chadian national staffer with Solidarite was murdered. The suspension will impact service delivery to 37,000 Darfuri refugees and internally displaced Chadians, and comes after an increase in attacks in recent months. Since the beginning of 2009, 190 attacks on aid operations have been reported.
The culprits remain unknown, but could be any of the number of rebel factions (Chadian or Darfuri) or opportunistic bandits that roam freely in the Chad-Sudan border region. Sudanese-backed Chadian rebels are known to attack humanitarian convoys and compounds in eastern Chad, steal their vehicles, and drive them back to basecamp in Sudan; evidence of this was also noted in the recent UN Panel of Experts report on Darfur.
Attacks often peak in advance of another rebel incursion -- now that the rainy season is over, are Chadian rebels gearing up to make another pass at N'djamena? Or is this just a case of cut-and-dry banditry?
Racialized Refugee Status in the UK?
Published November 05, 2009 @ 04:27AM PT
Did the UK just endorse racial profiling of refugees?
According to a decision announced on Tuesday by Britain's Interior Ministry, all "non-Arab" Darfuri asylum-seekers will be allowed to remain in the country, contingent upon periodic reviews of the situation in Sudan:
"All non-Arab Darfuris, regardless of their political or other affiliations, are at real risk of persecution in Darfur and internal relocation elsewhere in Sudan is not currently to be relied upon," the Interior Ministry's UK Border Agency concluded in its operational guidance note.
Yes, non-Arab Darfuris were the targets of Sudan's genocidal violence, and return from abroad is a very dangerous prospect. But while the situation in Darfur is perilous for those groups singled out by the government, the human rights situation is pretty crummy (in my professional opinion) across the entire country -- for Arabs and non-Arabs and mixed races and foreigners and really anyone who happens to be there.
I'm certainly no lawyer, but I thought that an individual's asylum claim should be evaluated on the specific merits of his/her case. While its laudable for the British government to recognize the need to ensure of asylum to Darfuris, that protection should be extended to all Sudanese fleeing abuse in their home country.
Conflict in the Age of Climate Change
Published October 15, 2009 @ 04:52AM PT
Access to vital resources is a driver of conflict -- not the only driver, of course, but people will certainly go to great lengths to secure the necessary means to survival. The impact of climate change is already felt in some of the world's most troubled regions, fueling fears that the necessary ingredients for sustainable peace may be further out of our grasp than we realize.
When a group of high-ranking, retired military officers concludes that "climate change acts as a threat multiplier for instability in some of the most volatile regions of the world" and "projected climate change will add to tensions even in stable regions of the world," we have reason to be worried.
Conflict mitigation in the age of climate change is not, however, purely a matter for environmental activism. Conflict over scarce resources often erupts when tyrannical governments play favorites -- when access to resources is unequal, at the expense of
a marginalized segment of the population. Transitions towards transparent, democratic governance with respect for human rights and equal access might mitigate the risk of violence due to climate change, but the realities of increasingly arid climates like Chad and Sudan make such moves seem increasingly like pipe dreams.
Agencies serving Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad are already grappling with the very real prospect that water might simply run out -- the rainy season in the region is short, and has been lighter than usual the past two years, leaving some wells running dry up to five months earlier than normal. Resources are already stretched to the limit, as the influx of refugees and the displacement of Chadian nationals dramatically increased the population in the region. What happens if the wells really do run dry?
A recent study by International Alert identified 46 countries at risk of violent conflict due to climate change, many of which can already be characterized as war-torn. A combination of environmental and human rights activism is needed if we have any chance of averting even further disaster -- if it isn't already too late.
[Photo by the author (all rights reserved): Darfuri refugees at a water point in a refugee camp in eastern Chad.]
US Envoy on Bears, Honey, and Peace in Sudan
Published September 17, 2009 @ 06:17PM PT
US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration moved his damage control campaign from DC to Darfur last week, where he reportedly (though he denies it) was greeted with no small amount of frustration in the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.
It is, indeed, critically important that Gration is reaching out to Darfuris. Comments about his conversations with IDPS made by the Special Envoy during an interview with Radio Dabanga, however, are rather concerning:
"I found out that people misunderstand my position. The second thing I found out is that the people thought I said we should remove Sudan from the terrorist list. I never said that."
He continues:
"But if you study my words, ...if you study what I said in the congress, you'll see that my words are exactly as I stated and not what has been reported by other people to the people in Darfur."
Ok, well here's exactly what he said, during his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July:
"There's no evidence in our intelligence community that supports [Sudan] being on the state sponsors of terrorism. It's a political decision."
So perhaps Gration is parsing words while accusing others of doing the same: He didn't explicitly say to take Sudan off the list, but the implications of his statement are difficult to deny.
During the interview with Radio Dabanga, Gration also defended his incentive-based approach to Khartoum, arguing that, "You catch more bears with honey than with vinegar." (Seriously.) His broad assertions that such incentives are already having a positive impact with the ruling party in Khartoum -- he neglects to provide any examples -- don't exactly jive with recent reports on the situation on the ground in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan.
An Inspired Life: Remembering Ken Bacon
Published August 16, 2009 @ 04:07PM PT
The human rights and humanitarian communities lost one of their most inspirational leaders this weekend: Ken Bacon, president of Refugees International, passed away on Saturday morning after a battle with cancer.
Mr. Bacon was a life-long human rights advocate, first as a journalist and then as a Pentagon public affairs spokesman during the Clinton Administration before moving to Refugees International. He was a true leader in the field, often among the first to speak out on new displacement crises and the neglected protection needs of refugees. He was one of the first international advocates to call attention to the plight of the displaced in Darfur, and had recently turned his attention to the impact of climate change on displacement.
Tough Week for the Special Envoy to Sudan
Published August 15, 2009 @ 09:11AM PT
Tougher weeks are yet to come.
I wonder what did Major General Scott Gration expect from women of Darfur in the camps in reacting to his description of the situation in Darfur as "remnants of genocide?"
Magbula may be to the Special Envoy a "remnants of genocide." There are hundreds of thousands women like Magbola in the IDP camps of Kassab, Hasahisa, KarYari, Habila, and in similar camps across Darfur and in Eastern Chad. They want justice before peace.
I believe that, with all the nice words and the good intentions expressed, General Gration is not ready to handle the Darfur problem. It is either you have it or you don't. Al Bashir has underestimated the Darfuri people in this conflict. Today he is a fugitive. In a different take, the Special Envoy might have underestimated the resolve and resilience of the Darfuri people who are confined to crowded camps.
