Q. What’s happening in Darfur?
A. Today, 2.5 million people are living in makeshift camps in Darfur. For many, these camps have been their home for the past three years as ongoing conflict has made it impossible for them to return home.
But conflict in the region has escalated because a failed peace agreement split rebel groups into factions and caused further fighting.
Immediate humanitarian aid is needed now. Although this is a sticking plaster and not a cure for the people of Darfur, it is essential that they have the right to life – to food, clean water and education. Failure to respond to this situation isn’t an option; it’s a matter of human dignity.
Peace must be restored so that people can return to their homes and rebuild their lives.
Christian Aid has been working in Darfur for the past three years through the ACT/Caritas network, which has one of the largest humanitarian programmes in the region.
Q. What do people need?
A. People arrived in the camps bringing what little they could carry. We provided them with plastic sheeting, water containers, cooking utensils, blankets and other basic necessities.
Plastic buckets and tarpaulins do not last long in the severe heat and dust storms that affect this part of the world.
As well as needing replacements for these essential items, they also need health care, access to clean water and their children need to go to school.
Christian Aid, through the ACT-Caritas network and our local partners, is funding:
repairs to and the rehabilitation of schools in and around the camps
building and stocking of health clinics
training for local health workers
drilling bore holes, repairs to hand pumps and hand-dug wells to provide a source of clean water.
In addition to this we support peace-building work, helping people to find ways to address roots of the conflict by talking to each other.
We also help those who still have access their land, however small, to grow vegetables and other crops.
Q. What’s happened to the money from the last appeal?
A. The last appeal for Sudan was in 2004 and covered the Darfur and Malakal regions of the country. We raised £4.6 million thanks to your generous support and this helped us assist more than half a million people over the past three years.
We have funds remaining from this appeal but they are running out. If we are not able to raise more money we will have to scale back our work at a time when it is most needed.
Q. Why is Darfur still in crisis?
A. The efforts of the international community – for example the UN, the African Union, the US and UK governments – have been inexcusably weak.
While many politicians make bold statements at home, their words have failed to translate into actions overseas.
The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was signed in May 2006 but international efforts to support it were mainly motivated by an eagerness to herald a success rather than a commitment to find a lasting solution to the crisis.
As a result it has not only failed to bring peace but has actually made the situation much worse (see below).
Sudan is also a strategic trade partner with several members of the UN Security Council. China, for example, receives 7% of its oil from Sudan.
As a result, the few governments with influence over Sudan are reluctant to put pressure on the government to commit to finding a resolution to the conflict for fear of jeopardising their own trading relations with the country.
Q. Why has the Darfur Peace Agreement led to more fighting?
A. The negotiations that led to the DPA were a wasted opportunity and a series of deadlines and shortcuts meant that the agreement did not secure the signature of all of the armed groups fighting in Darfur.
Rebel groups disagreed with each other and between themselves over the content of the DPA – specifically over the extent to which the agreement allowed for power sharing between groups in Darfur and Khartoum.
Rebel groups split and began fighting each other and, as a result, the security situation is now worse than ever.
Q. How did the conflict begin?
A. The conflict started four years ago when a government installation was attacked by the Darfur Liberation Front (a rebel group in Darfur).
The Sudan government responded to this attack in a way it has done many times before: outsourcing its battles to local ethnic groups who fight on the government’s behalf.
In the case of Darfur the government equipped the Janjaweed: a group without ideology, whose individual members are also drawn from underrepresented and marginalised groups, to fight their battle.
The Janjaweed, due to their allegiances with the government, have been given carte blanche to raid, rape and kill with impunity causing widespread terror across the region, displacing millions and killing thousands.
Q. What is needed to end the crisis?
A. Aid will never bring an end to the fighting or suffering in Darfur but it’s needed to help people survive.
While the conflict continues there must be a viable force in Darfur to protect people from attack.
The current African Union force is too small to provide effective protection but, in the absence of any other force, it must be maintained and strengthened.
Alongside this protection, the African Union and the UN is attempting to restart the failed peace process.
This new process aims to avoid mistakes made by the DPA and to ensure that all of the rebel groups fighting in Darfur are included in the process of negotiating peace.