Nyala, Sudan, 10 October (ENI)–The killing in late September of 10 peacekeepers from the African Union in Sudan’s volatile western region of Darfur is the most dramatic and publicized example of a steady decline in security during the last six months, and one that threatens humanitarian efforts championed by a wide spectrum of international faith-based groups and coalitions.
In a 10 October statement, the joint emergency operation of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) and Caritas Internationalis announced that it is temporarily relocating a number of international staff from Darfur to Khartoum in light of the insecurity in the region.
‘This is a precautionary measure in line with standard procedures,’ said John Distefano, the director of the ACT/Caritas operation. The statement added that it was hoped to have the relocated staff return to Darfur later in October, should conditions allow.
Continued threats against humanitarian personnel are part of the worsening security situation. In September, an armed group in the western Darfur city of Zalingei detained for 30-hours several members of the ACT/Caritas team.
Recent interviews in Darfur with African and other humanitarian workers, officials of international agencies and those who have been displaced suggest that, even with talk of peace negotiations and planned deployment of a so-called ‘hybrid’ force of United Nations and AU forces, the possibility of peace in Darfur remains a distant dream.
The AU killings appear to have confirmed fears that the deployments of peacekeepers should not be seen as a panacea, and that what is needed in Darfur is a comprehensive peace settlement. Such an arrangement would need to address long-term social and political problems in this impoverished and isolated region, which has a population of some 6.4 million and is about the size of France.
Without such a comprehensive settlement, said one United Nations official who did not want to be identified by name, ‘There will continue to be an increase in the numbers of those displaced.’
According to UN reports, the rate of displacement has been on the increase recently, with 55 000 new people being uprooted between June and the end of August 2007. This brings the estimated number of those so far displaced in Darfur in 2007 to 250 000.
In all, the UN estimates that roughly a third of Darfur’s population, some 2.2 million people, are now displaced, and a total of 4 million are dependent on some type of humanitarian assistance, whether food, shelter or other aid.
One theory says the rate of displacement has risen this year because there are now much larger numbers of armed groups in Darfur, and this has complicated a conflict that, until recently, had been ascribed to the Sudanese military and its allied ‘Janjaweed’ militia fighting two rebel factions. There may be now as many as two dozen or more new groups fighting in Darfur, with political and ethnic factions splintering and with the groups trying to claim territorial control before any peace settlement is put into place.
Humanitarian workers affiliated with the ACT/Caritas operation in Darfur said in interviews that the overall situation remains confused. One worker noted that the uncertainty and continuing conflict might mean that the current ‘situation or something like it could still exist 10 years from now’.
ACT/Caritas staff have said that the work of their program and other humanitarian agencies continues to save lives and should be continued. Still, as one official put it, ‘Security is very fluid.’
Chris Herlinger, a New York-based correspondent for Ecumenical News International, was recently on assignment in Darfur for the US humanitarian agency Church World Service.
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