Daily Darfur: Going Home No Simple Matter
Published August 07, 2009 @ 04:28AM PT
A small contingent of displaced Darfuris faced harassment while attempting to return to their home village this week. The families told Radio Dabanga that "settlers" had taken over their land in their absence.
It's a likely a sign of trouble to come, if Darfuris begin to return without some kind of agreement or process on dealing with land disputes: According to a recent analysis by the State Department, over 3,300 villages were severely damaged or destroyed during the six-year conflict, and there seems to be little information on how much land is now otherwise occupied.
Going home will be no simple matter. Access to land and scarce resources is a driver of conflict in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan, and sustainable peace will not be possible without some mechanism to deal with land rights. Further, such a mechanism, whatever it may be, needs to be facilitated by a transparent international body --- control by the government of Sudan will almost certainly allow the perpetrators of genocide to consolidate their gains and further deprive Darfuris of their rights.
Quickies
Two aid workers with MSF-Holland were abducted during an armed attack in the Chadian border town of Ade on Monday. Insecurity is rampant in Eastern Chad, which is the temporary home to some 250,000 Darfuri refugees and 171,000 displaced Chadians, and attacks on aid workers have been on the rise. For a startling illustration of this, see the latest OCHA map of security incidents in the region.
ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said that the Geneva Conventions need to be revised to account for the changing nature of war across the globe.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Kenya that she regrets that the US is not a member of the ICC.
[Photo from AFP: Sudanese people pictured at a camp for internally displaced persons (IDP) near Nyala, South Darfur, in 2008.]
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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.
