Katrina and Darfur
(Crossposted from Coalition for Darfur
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When Hurricane
Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last month, the American public was
privy to ’round-the-clock media coverage of the disaster, especially of
stories relating to the extraordinarily difficult living conditions
faced by those who had been unable to evacuate. Thousands of people
were left without food or water for days; their homes and cities
destroyed, they were left to fend for themselves, trapped in squalid
conditions and at the mercy of roving gangs of well-armed criminals.
As it turned out, many of the more horrific stories were later found to be false. Yet for the people of Darfur, the horrors that befell the people of New Orleans have become a way of life.
For
more than two years, nearly two million people have been relegated to
displacement camps across Darfur, with limited access to food, water
and medical attention. They live in makeshift tents that provide little
shelter from the elements, and in constant fear of rape, looting and
death at the hands of the Janjaweed militia.
An aid worker and blogger known only as Sleepless in Sudan,
who has been working in Darfur for six months, has been kind enough to
provide this assessment of the conditions in which the displaced are
now living (”Sleepless” has chosen to remain anonymous in order to
protect herself and the agency for which she works from the very real
threat of retribution from the Sudanese government)
People
are living inside temporary shelters, covering their branch or wooden
huts (those who have been there longer have built mud brick ones) with
plastic sheeting from the aid agencies, and even this has often already
been torn apart by the rains. Everyone sleeps on the floor, sometimes
in puddles - 10 people in a little shelter is not unusual, more is
common.Now that the aid agencies are operating in many camps
there is regular water supply, there are latrines, there are medical
clinics and most importantly, there is a monthly food distribution of
staple grains and things like oil - but this does not mean people have
it easy. This season has brought many floods and people have lost their
belongings or even shelters, huts and latrines sometimes collapsed in
the rains, and the food is never enough (and people have to scramble
for things like fresh vegetables themselves anyway, as these are not
included in the distribution). Malnutrition inside the camps is still
high.Overall, I would say conditions are adequate for survival
- though some camps (especially the ones further away from big cities)
are a lot worse off than others (Abu Shouk, for example, has dozens of
aid agencies, while places just a few hours outside of it have 1 or 2).
Whether they are adequate for what you would consider a normal life is
debatable - I would say absolutely not, and I have no doubts any
American would find them a lot more “unacceptable” than New Orleans.I
suppose the worst part of living in the camps is having absolutely no
idea how much longer you will be there (many people have already been
there for 2 years) and also constantly having to worry that you will be
attacked - Aro Sarow showed us that even large scale attacks and
killings inside IDP camps are still a threat. In many camps - Kalma,
Tawila, etc. - it is part of everyday life to hear shooting at night,
and in nearly all of them it is still very dangerous to wander outside
and carry out chores like collecting firewood. Knowing that you are
constantly at risk of looting and assault is be an easy thing to live
with.
While the United States government was blamed for
a poor response to the Katrina catastrophe, the government of Sudan is
directly responsible for the catastrophe in Darfur. And whereas the
state and federal government are now in the process of cleaning up, and
will soon begin the process of rebuilding, the devastated Gulf Coast,
the people of Darfur currently have no prospects of ever being able to
leave the camps because insecurity is still rampant.
In the last few weeks, there have been a series of attacks on villages and camps that have created several thousand new IDPs. In addition,
nearly 40 African Union troops and workers were kidnapped over the
weekend and, in a separate incident, five members of the AU force were
ambushed and killed. And even if a semblance of peace does ever come to
the region, the people of Darfur have nothing to return to, as their
villages and homes have been utterly destroyed while their land and
possessions have been stolen.
The post-Hurricane nightmare faced
by the victims of Katrina has been the reality in Darfur for more than
two years - and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
