Music in Congo

A good friend and a friend of Africa sent me this link today. If you can find a moment to watch this short film, you will leave the screen with a little more pep in your step.

Enjoy!

Congo Symphony Orchestra and Its musicians

Home in South Bend but Darfur still has my attention...

And it should have yours too.

The International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for the president of Sudan on crimes against humanity for the widespread or systematic murders, rapes, and forced displacement of civilians. He is also charged with several counts of war crimes which involve the deliberate targeting of civilians and unarmed individuals in a time of war. He was not indicted for genocide because the courts were not convinced that all the above violence was done with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

The court found that the targeted civilians - belonging largely to the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups – were perceived by the government to be close to the organised armed groups waging war against the Government of Sudan in Darfur and therefore legitimate targets to subdue the uprising. However any actions against unarmed civilians is deemed a war crime by nature and a crime against humanity when it is committed in a widespread or systematic fashion as we have seen in Sudan.

The above is the general background to the recent events since I left Sudan on January 10th.

Today, the government of Sudan has decided to fight back and is using a very dangerous but thus far effective game that deserves your attention because the US, UK, and France are going to have to make a decision on their response to this issue with or without the support of the UN. Barack Obama spoke of the need for an inclusive approach to conflicts in the world. Well, here is tangible test that the Obama administration seems ill prepared to take on. The two other permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia and China) and the African Union leadership are at odds with the US position that President Omar El Bashir must be brought before a court of law.

Obama has prioritized domestic problems and has thus far failed to appoint senior staff in the US Department of State on African affairs to help address the Sudan issue with the required focus and energy.

Problem: Sudan has decided to revoke the licenses and expel the largest humanitarian organizations operating in Darfur in response to the indictment of its president. The removal of these NGOs will likely lead to the severe reduction of medical, food, education, and shelter assistance to the displaced populations in Darfur. But Article 16 of the ICC Rome Statute allows for the UN Security Council to defer (postpone) any action on the warrant of arrest indefinitely. And the Sudan government is suggesting that if the world really cares so much for the fate of the displaced Darfurians, then it will agree to defer the arrest warrant, and the government will allow NGOs to continue to operate and save the lives of these people. It is not making any promises mind you.

You can read more about the politics of this decision in this new york times article:
UN Security Council is deadlocked

Here is what it is boiling down to. Sudan has always wanted to dictate who is on the ground providing humanitarian assistance and to whom but was too politically weak. Now they have the ability to force the hand of the international community to defer the indictment indefinitely before they are willing to allow some of the groups to operate on their soil. Once they get their way, they will just keep asking for more and will likely dictate where the assistance can be delivered. The government is losing is control over large areas of Darfur, but it is able to periodically regain some control by offering money, assistance, or both to local or regional leaders in exchange for their loyalty. It is quite common for groups to receive pressure to operate in a specific region and to be accompanied by a government official to underscore that the government is to thank for their assistance.

Politics has always been an integral part of humanitarian assistance. I do recall the US accepting Canadian and Mexican assistance during Katrina but refusing Cuban and Venzuelan assistance. Is this any different? Yes, of course it is. But the idea of playing politcal favorites with relief assistance is contrary to humanitarian principles. It is just plain wrong. I am not saying that humanitarian assistance should be delivered blindly. Political manipulation is a constant danger and relief agencies need to be political savy enough to know when they are being played. But in the end, when there are people in need, they deserve to be helped.

Nubian knights are doing their part. And the politicians in Washington, Paris, London, Bejing, and Moscow need to do their job. There is so much confusion about the position of the west vis-a-vis Sudan that Sudan is targeting all things Western. Give the Sudanese government a more tangible political adversary, counterpart, punching bag, and allow us to do our work.

Call your congressional representative. Let them know that a clear US policy on Sudan is needed, so that Nubian Knights can back to the task of saving and improving lives without the entanglements of political uncertaintly.

Maybe we will be spared more quotes like this one:

“They are spoiling, they are sabotaging, they are doing a lot of very bad activities incompatible with their humanitarian mandate,” Mr. Abdalhaleem (the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations) said. He said the Sudanese government, local groups and those organizations allowed to stay would be able to fill the gap created by the expulsions.

Heading Home

It has been a good year for me, but it is time to return home and hopefully start my PhD next summer. I have lots more to say but I will wait until I have access to a faster connection sometime this weekend.

The short story is that I will be going on vacation in Europe for a month and then returning to Sudan for my final week in country before returning to my beloved Indiana.

Talk to you all in a few days.

Ceasefire declared amidst continued fighting

Some of you may have seen the headlines that come at the end of a highly publicized effort in Khartoum to give the world the impression that a new peace initiative is under way in Sudan to bring an end to the war in Darfur. The rhetoric has been that the international community needs to steer clear of the internal affairs of Sudan and let the Sudanese people handle their own affairs. This statement is directly particularly at the International Criminal Court and perhaps to some degree at the peacekeeping operation here in Darfur which has the object of a number of attacks in the last month.

At the closure of the conference, the president of Sudan acted on some of the recommendations of the participants by declaring an immediate ceasefire and suggesting that the courts would consider compensation to families that had been affected by the conflict. This statement addressed the two most important demands of the rebels BEFORE any peace negotiations can resume.

The news on the ceasefire was treated with some mistrust and scepticism, and with reason. Yesterday and today, I learned that the Sudanese military launched a major assault in North Darfur on a number of positions. You can read more about the ceasefire declaration and the related rhetoric here: 'Sudan People's Initiative' Calls for Ceasefire; President Declares it Immediately and Unconditionally. The source of this article is the "Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan."

Many people have expressed scepticism about the sincerity of this declaration, and these articles provide a good overview of that position: Sudan cease-fire call gets wary reception in Darfur and France says not swayed by Sudan ceasefire call

Mind you, none of the articles mention the fact that there is still fighting taking place in Darfur. That may be the key reason not to trust the immediate and unconditional declaration of a cessation of hostilities.

Here are the most recent reports of fighting. I have added explanations of site-specific references or abbreviations in parenthesis:

YESTERDAY, NOV 13

Reports of from Korma (North Darfur) that GoS (Government of Sudan), with 60 technicals (pick up trucks with mounted machine guns), 2 Antonov (bomber planes) and two gunships (attach helicopters), has attacked SLA(AW) (rebel group led by Abdul Wahid)positions /checkpoints west of Khazan Tungur (southern area of North Darfur), which were established on the access roads to Jebel Mara (area in Southwest North Darfur but also in West and North Darfur). Reported casualties : five (5) persons killed and four (4) wounded. No Further Info (NFI)

TODAY AT 1100 HOURS

Aerial bombing by GoS Antonov in the vicinity of KURBIA. ( KURBIA located N NW of KUTUM on the main road between ABDEL SHAKUR and ANA BAGI). Exact time unknown. Report of casualties and battle damage unknown. In KUTUM two GoS Heli gunships are prepared and on standby to conduct mission. No Further Info (NFI).

Yes, it is normal for ceasefires to be violated. Foot soldiers receive orders late and accidents can happen. But it is difficult to see how the launching of a new assault in an area that has not seen active fighting in recent weeks can be explained in those terms.

What provoked this attack? Why now? Difficult to say, but I have the feeling that we will all learn more soon. It is entirely possible that the rebel groups were mobilizing and that it prompted a government retaliation attack to keep them in check. Either way, this new assault needs to be explained quickly if the president hopes that his ceasefire declaration will retain any credibility in Darfur and with the international community.

Journey to Kass

One of the roots of the crisis is the Sudanese government’s longstanding neglect of the region. Schools in Darfur are few and far between, and where they do exist they have traditionally been understaffed and under-funded. Darfur is the exception to the rule about conflicts and education, for today there are more children in school than before the conflict. Communities have opened their doors and generously shared their meager resources to enabled children to attend school and obtain provisions . More children, and especially girls, are in school because their families have lost their land and animals, leaving children with less work to do.

I recently traveled to Kass. Sudan is divided into states and states are divided into localities. Kass locality is one of the nine localities in South Darfur State. It is situated 150 km westof Nyala. It has three administrative units, namely: Kass, Janub El Jabel and Shateya.

Kass town is the capital of the state and the estimated resident population is about 33,000 inhabitants.

In 2003, the conflict has produced a large influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to Kass town, which increased in number each day until the estimated number of IDPs in Kass town had reached around 27,000 in September 2004 and were allocated different places within the city. Most were integrated in the schools. Today, the numbers have crested at approximately55,000 displaced people. Most of them are crowded into makeshift shelters in the compounds of public buildings such as schools. There are 13 camps located throughout Kass town, each named after the school whose property they occupy. Some of the displaced people are staying with relatives in dusty front yards and crowded houses.

The schools remained closed for two years since the displaced occupied the classrooms themselves, but in 2004, residents in Kass pushed to get the schools to reopen. International NGOs such as Oxfam, IRC, and others provided plastic sheeting to allow IDPs to move out of the school buildings and into the courtyards. Today, the schools are a veritable tent city as you can see in these pictures. Instead of school yards, you have hundreds of shelters. The entrance to the girls secondary school is lined with IDP housing. After five years of waiting to return to their homes, many IDPs had begun to build permanent settlements in the schools. So now, between one classroom and another, you have to walk through a maze of brick walls and shelters, wandering children, donkeys, and if you are particularly unlucky, an angry Sheikh asking about what the school is going to do to improve living conditions for the families on the school grounds.

Kass is historically located deep in Fur territory. Traditionally, Fur would farm the land in this area and allow Arab tribes in the area to graze their cattle on the stubs of the harvested crops. The drought in the 1980s put a strain on this mutually beneficial arrangement and Fur began to deny Arabs access to certain seasonal migration routes in the name of preserving slow growing crops. Many Arab families suffered and there was reportedly widespread starvation among nomadic tribes in the area who had come to depend on this livelihood arrangement. The bitterness that emerged combine with government neglect and manipulation of loyalties led to open warfare that took its toll on all people living in this area - Arab and non Arab.

On the social side of things, everyone is more cautious than I have found when visiting villages in North Darfur. The kids were more skittish but never failed to belt out the common refrain "okay, okay" and give me the thumbs up. I am not sure they know what Okay means. My guess is that they think that it is a greeting. I am sure that they have heard foreigners use the word often enough to know that it is English. These kids made me realize just how much I use "okay" everytime I talk with my staff. Have to tried to reduce that and substitute it with a convenient Arab phrase with the same meaning. Tamam is what lots of people use. Or Tayeeb. Both mean 'good'.

I liked Kass alot. Nice air, lots of trees and overall friendly market, but it is difficult to imagine the situation improving for the residents of this town anytime soon. The most disturbing thing that struck me was the number of latrines (outdoor toilets) that lined the streets and the school yards. Latrines are like the port-o-potties you would find at a public event in the states, but these are made from plastic sheeting for privacy and the waste drops into a shallow (9 foot) hole dug into the ground with a cement platform placed on top. The holes fill up quickly and new holes have to be dug. With the sandy soil, there is little doubt that the ground water is being affected by such a density of human waste in such a small area. UN agencies have discussed the potential of creating another even greater disaster - the contamination of the only available water for miles - as a result of all the humanitarian assistance focused in one restricted area.

Towns are safer than villages and that is the reason most villagers give for refusing to relocate outside the center of town, but unless some solution is found soon, we run the risk of triggering another conflict in Darfur - this one over access to the remaing, clean aquafers in Darfur. Ethnic and politically motivated wars are survivable. A water war would be cataclysmic. Fortunately there are a few solutions being batted around and our organization also has a few ideas that it will attempt to implement over the next two months including the conversion of human waste to natural cooking gas - or biogas. The idea may be difficult to sell. I will keep you all appraised of the progress. Below you can see a picture of the biolatrine concept. Talk with you again soon.

Narration via pictures -- Mellit and a smattering of Kutum

No room for a library. All the books stacked in the headmaster's office

Hell of a way to go to High School!

Nature of Mellit!

Day Two - still making my way back to earth

I am back in El Fasher and noticing the striking differences between the general feel of the desert town I visited and the city. Even the small Zhagawa market where I do my shopping for tomatoes and cucumber was buzzing with chatter, smiles, laughing children, and just an overall positive vibe. The desert Market lacked any of those things. Funny that I did not notice it until now. I may also be adding a tad of my own euphoria of having access to my own bed, kitchen (after 4 bouts of food poisoning), and cooling temperatures.

I will try to add as many photos as I can. The internet connection is very very slow, so I will not guarantee anything at this stage. I will also try to upload photos to my facebook, so take a look at that site as well.

I think the only news I have from my work is that my employer is not willing to fly me back to my home station because I have elected to cut my contract short. I will be completing a full year, but they apparently have no obligations for less than the full contract. This news changes somewhat my plans to visit India from here. I had expected the employer to ship my belongings to the states and leave me with no luggage, so that I can travel more freely in India. I will try to find out how to make that happen with my own means, but without the help of a logisitcian, I will have some trouble getting my things shipped home. So, it would appear that I will be heading straight home and attempt to go to India another time.

Sorry, the picture uploading is not working. I lose the internet connection every two minutes or so and have to keep logging on. I will try to visit one of our neighbors with a fast internet satellite connection over the week and upload photos from my trip.

I especially wanted to show you the pictures of the desert transformed. When I first traveled into the desert, I uploaded a video of our Land Rover braving the sands. Well, I have a part two picture and video showing all the sand covered in grasses and various other plants. Amazing what the rainy season can bring to this environment.

Hope to bring you more information and images on Sunday, when we open again for work.

Until then, peace to you all.

A love for the desert

It has been a heavy past 2 weeks in northern North Darfur. Just before we set out, we received word that a major battle was being prepared just 60 km north of our destination and that we should be wary of wayward or awol troops who may decide to loot a few NGOs rather than report for duty in this crazy war.

We saw bombers pass over head and we saw Janjaweed troops pass noisily through town, but nothing worth noting happened to our delegation or to the town we visited. It was an uneventful trip in that sense. But so many adventures and stories to tell about living in the desert.

First the stars. I have been on extended camping trips in the past, but there was always some distant source of light to damper the view, but this place had no lights after 10pm and some days not at all. We had an amazing view of the milky way and spent hours lying in our cots outside counting shooting stars and satellites as they danced their way across the sky.

The days were very warm and the cement construction holds heat well into the night, so we decided to sleep outside on most nights. I was usually exhausted by 9 pm but Sudanese get their second wind about that time and conversations lasted well into the early hours of the morning.

The best constellation story I can relate now is the one about the origins of the Milky Way. When Ibrahim (Abraham for Bible readers) was asked to sacrifice his son, Allah (God) sent a sheep to him and told him to stop all human sacrifices. The Milky Way, I was told, was created to help the sheep find its way to Ibrahim. Many other stories ensued, but that was the one I retained best. Please remember that much of these late night stories are told in Arabic. It was too late to translate for the foreigner in their midst. So, I may have some details missing. In all, it was a great way to spend the night. Remember watching clouds as a child? Well, it is like that, except I cannot remember too many days when Darfur has been blessed with the cover of clouds.

The small town market began to stir around 10am each morning and many stayed closed well into the afternoon. That is usually a sign of trouble in El Fasher, but, when I inquired, I was told that no one had any money in the wake of Eid Ramadan. Ramadan ends with much merry making and gifts for family and children, especially the children. Lots of money is spent on new clothes and new make overs for the house. People are still struggling to make ends meet after such lavish outpouring of generosity in such a poor region. So merchants open with few expectations of selling any wares that day. Most just spend the day visiting fellow vendors and asking about their Eid and their expectations for the next big celebrations in December.

I visited with one old lady who sells wood in the market. She told me that it takes a day and a half on a donkey to collect the wood she sold there before me. Small bundles of dried twigs and branches. Each bundle of six or seven branches sold for less than 2 dollars. A decent living when you consider that in that town alone, residents spend over 40,000 dollars a day on firewood and charcoal. Poverty is relative. People pay for what they need and firewood is a premium product.

I am back in Fasher, and very tired, but I promise to continue with this and other stories over the weekend which, for me, begins tomorrow.

Thank you for your emails of concern. Maa salaama