Darfur

Our internal flight from Khartoum to Nyala in south Darfur flew high over the arid landscape of northern Sudan. Occasionally the straight line of a tarmac road could be seen far below. The overall view was of endless arid desert as far as the eye could see. Nyala is the dusty administrative capital of south Darfur and is now home to a number of huge camps for internally displaced persons (IDP). Nothing quite prepares you for the sheer size of a number of these camps. Driving along the road parallel to the largest camp and the camp boundary goes on for kilometers.

We were on the road to visit a primary health centre being run using funds supplied by the ACT/Caritas networks. The clinic provides essential pre and postnatal care, primary health care and supplementary feeding programmes for severely malnourished children. We meet with local community leaders of the displaced Darfurian farmers and hear of their longing to return to their villages and traditional lands.

We also met with workers from other aid agencies and heard their concerns over the insecurity across the whole area and how hard it has been to plug the gaps following the Sudanese government’s expulsion of major humanitarian organisations. The expectation here is that many of the displaced may never return to their villages and will have to start new lives in their new urban environments. We talked with UN agencies who helped us understand the complexity of the crisis, the challenges faced by the humanitarian community working there and the role of traditional conflict resolution structures.

From a distance, sitting comfortably in our homes and offices, it is easy to over-simplify the Darfurian crises and to fail to understand the interlocking patchwork of tribes and ethnic groups that have lived and fought together for centuries. The one lesson I’ve learned here – and every new conversation confirms it – is that this is not a simple story and that there will be no simple solution for Darfur. There are millions of displaced farmers who have been forced off their land – some have founds ways to return home, some are even renting their “own” land from its new nomadic owners. This is a part of the world where everyone lives on their wits, making alliances and fighting off predators. The crisis that started in 2003 still rumbles on and the one thing you can be sure of is that Darfur will never be the same again; going back to a pre-crises dispensation isn’t feasible. The future will be different from the past but trying to understand its complexity and its possibilities is the on going challenge of all those trying to help in Darfur.