Daily Darfur: Hunger: Darfur region of Sudan remains a hotspot for food relief

A report on the ReliefWeb website of the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations Humanitarian Commision Relief (UNHCR) carries a list and write-up of "Hunger's global hotspots: 22 Feb 2007." The countries singled out for special concern are Afghanistan, Burundi, Chad, Congo DR, DPRK (North Korea - the two words appear nowhere in the text), Ethiopia, Guinea, Occupied Palestinian Terroritories (notice the politically-loaded designation), Sri Lanka, Somalia, and the country I've single out for attention below, Sudan, especially its Darfur region.

Sudan

In Sudan's Darfur region, February distributions are continuing, despite on-going insecurity. WFP is planning to carry out as many double-distributions as possible in March as part of its preparedness and mitigation strategy.

In January, WFP and cooperating partners provided assistance to 2.4 million beneficiaries including 2.2 million IDPs and vulnerable residents in Darfur.

I'm guessing that "IDP" refers to "Internally Displaced Person/s"

Almost 158,000 people in Darfur did not receive food assistance in January as insecurity affected humanitarian access to locations in West and South Darfur.

Violent robbery

The majority of those not reached (122,000) were in Gereida camp, south Darfur, where WFP cooperating partner Action Contre La Faim (ACF) decided not to return following a violent robbery in December.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has now taken over food distributions in that camp.

I understand from the web that the former Red Cross has changed its name to the Red Chrystal, and dropped the sign of the Cross in favour of a boxed square called absurdly a "chrystal." I find this disgusting and anti-historical, to say the least. One has to fall in line with this semiotic shell-game in order to continue to support the former Red Cross. I must say that it has lessened my enthusiasm. There's a huge amount of internal and interagency politics among the various relief organizations.

FAO-WFP CFSAM recommends significantly reduced food aid and a phase out of general food assistance in Central and Eastern Sudan in favour of targeted interventions, like school or supplementary feeding.

Three-month food packages

In the Three Areas the focus will be on timely three-month food packages to an estimated 350,000 returnees expected to return to Abyei, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile in 2007.

UNHCR and WFP signed a Joint Plan of Action for Blue Nile to cover the reintegration of both organised and spontaneous returnees in 2007. WFP is working with World Vision International, SUDO and UNHCR to finalise agreements on food distribution by the end of February.

An outbreak of meningitis in parts of southern Sudan forced the temporary suspension of humanitarian activities last month.

Africa > Sudan & Chad

Authorities say a ban on people congregating may soon be lifted. If so, WFP will resume distributions in parts of Northern Bahr El Ghazal in early March.

One really needs a map of Sudan to get the full import of these different areas, and the way in which food relief is being redeployed in certain regions. But Darfur on the border with Chad remains a standout as an absolutely necessary continuous recipient for some time, when armed conflict and the endangerment of the relief workers doesn't halt the distribution process. Some say the actual genocide is easing, fewer deaths of the Darfur people; but the Janjaweed govt-backed terrorists and land-grabbers are still active. Unfortunately, the Darfurians themselves are woefully divided into numerous rebel organizations, which spend much time and energy fiting one another and hurting the general population in the process. One imagines that some of these rebels would fit the category of "terrorists" themselves.

The situation in neiboring Chad is also very difficult. In Chad one of three hotspots for food relief involves Darfurian refugees from the Sudan who have fled their own country and crossed the border into Chad, already beset by severe hunger in places.

Chad

The security situation in eastern Chad continues to be unstable and complex. No improvement in either the inter-ethnic problems or the Government/rebel activity can be noted.

It is estimated that there are over 110,000 internally displaced persons ( IDPs) in eastern Chad most of whom are in need of assistance and WFP is increasing planning figures to 110,000 IDPs and host families.

Assessment

A WFP EFSA to assess IDP numbers and requirements for assistance is ongoing in eastern Chad.

To date WFP has provided food assistance to IDPs in Gassire (12,000 people), Am Timan (1,400) and Dogdore (over 18,000 people)

February distributions for the Sudanese refugees have been completed in 10 out of the 12 camps. Distributions in the remaining 2 camps are currently ongoing and should be completed during the week.

Distributions for the Central African Republic (CAR) refugees in the southern camps are still ongoing.

In the case of the Darfur region of Sudan, it's important always to keep in mind that the Sudanese govt is Arab Sunni Muslim and that it has been sponsoring the ongoing terrorism against and spoliation of Sudan's indigenous Black Sufi-influenced Muslim population in Darfur. There are additional dimensions to the conflict, in that population pressures are present, with increase of numbers among the nomadic Janjaweed driving the latter's expansion of territory. In contrast, the Black Darfurians are/were settled farmers scratching livelihoods from soil that is far from the richest in the world. In that setting, an image haunts me, an image that serves as a metaphor: the account encountered on numerous occasions of Janjaweed dumping the dead bodies of Darfurians into the wells, so important for life and farming. Well-ruination was a common tactic of the Janjaweed, as was rape. I'm not uptodate on whether these practices have mitigated, but the sources I try to monitor claim there is no let-up in the attacks or the govt's favouritism to the Janjaweed terrorists.
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