Signs of a new war

... but still taking it one day at a time

The Chadian conflict continues to rage on but with no news headlines and with even fewer witnesses, but we are feeling the repercussions here in Darfur.

Last Thursday, I was trying to make my way through the city when I encountered a long column of military truck and troop transports. It is not at all unusual to see military technicals (Toyota pick-up with outfitted with special seats to carry troops and often a mounted machine gun) roaming about town. Both government and SLA-M forces (the only signatory to the now almost defunct peace agreement) regularly cruise the market area in their vehicles and conduct what I assume are armed patrols on foot. To make a point, I should explain that they are all very cordial and never really interact with the population, which is a far better scenario than in Congo where armed groups were a constant burden on the population, forcing residents to feed and house them. At least in El Fasher and Nyala there are barracks and some division between civilian and military is respected. This is an important point to make because in many African countries in conflict, the government does not provide consistent support to its army; and so on top of the armed conflict between adversaries you also have regular clashes between civilians and the police and military. A culture of predation sets in that creates a confused web of conflict that then becomes difficult to untangle from the original conflict. Peace processes lose their way, and most importantly, lose popular support.

But I digress.

We pulled our taxi to one side to allow the column of military trucks to pass and, after checking in with the UN security office to make sure that the market area was safe, I proceeded to my first meeting of the day. Not two minutes after arriving there, a long column of tanks began to enter the city center. People ran to the streets to watch the 20 or more huge Soviet style tanks roll through with men wearing red bandanas, and waving Sudanese flags and flowers over their heads. “They are returning from Geneina,” a smiling spectator told me. People cheered them on and showed the “number one” symbol and the joyful soldiers replied in kind. As we both watched this seemingly endless column of vehicles, the same onlooker turned to me and said, “War is horrible and we want this fighting to stop. We hope they are back to stay.” Not two minutes after making this point, he is waving the “number one” symbol again as another tank rolls into view, this one covered in soldiers singing military songs and dancing. One soldier nearly falls off his tank, but still manages to regain his composure and join again in the revelry.

Quite a sight.

It is standard for all NGOs to consult the UN for information about the security situation to ensure the safety of their staff. But when we consulted the UN for some information about what had been happening in town, their response was predictable.

"Nothing to report."

They did not even come to the weekly OCHA meeting later that afternoon because of the lack of relevant security matters to discuss.

Two days later, we all heard the press reports of a large assault on towns north of Geneina (click on the blue text to go the article) and of the arrival of fresh troops in the same area preparing for a sustained attack on the areas abandoned by the Sudanese rebels who had left their hard-fought positions in West Darfur to help their alleged benefactor, President Idriss Deby of Chad, to stay in power. Having abandoned those key positions and leaving the civilian populations totally unprotected, the rebel controlled areas are experiencing a great deal of chaos. Over 15,000 civilians fled the area and crossed in Chad, and the press has been reporting regular air raids on these newly abandoned areas. A larger-scale confrontation between the remaining rebel groups in West Darfur and government forces is expected soon.

None of the fighting has directly affected our safety but it does create an unsettling feeling among most international nongovernmental organizations here, especially those who were hoping to start doing early recovery work in settled villages where people have been trying to rebuild. It is very difficult to get a community to start to think about rebuilding, if they believe that there is chance that war will return to their village. So, although the fighting is still hundreds of kilometers away, we can still see its repercussions in the psyche and emotions of the people of North and South Darfur.

We have made adjustments to my living and working situation and I will soon have regular access to the internet in both Nyala and El Fasher, so that is a relief. I should be able to make more regular entries and try to include more descriptions of my environment in El Fasher. I will leave you with this thought.

Recycling the desert

El Fasher and Nyala are towns in the middle of the desert. And things do not decompose very quickly in the desert. I have had to try to find a way to decrease my carbon footprint in this mission by finding creative ways of deposing of my trash. I asked around about any recycling program, and Sudanese just look at me like I am crazy. “We just burn it,” is the usual reply. I began to resign myself to doing the same until I saw this kid collecting plastic bottles in one town, a man collecting scrap metal, and another kid sorting his trash into organic and non-organic material. I managed to follow the scrap metal man to a factory that transforms the scrap into cooking pots and utensils but I still do not know what the kids do with their trash. I personally, think that it would make a very worthwhile side project that perhaps I could encourage you my readers to send ideas and materials on desert recycling and eventually possibly financial support to help these entrepreneurs to create a more formal recycling business.

Trash is a huge source of income in this environment but it has been undervalued for obvious reasons. For inspiration I encourage all of you to watch this film about recycling in Cairo. It is made by a company called Media that Matters and is called Garbage Dreams. Just click on its title to view the 8 minute film.

Maa’a Salaama

HOT

and GETTING HOTTER

I spent the first night without worrying about the fact that I do not own a blanket. The weather has decidedly shifted into summer gear and it is easily 80 degrees at midday possibly more. If only I had the weather channel to tell me just hot warm it really is here.

Speaking of temperatures, the conflict in Chad has taken so many turns and caused the loss of so many lives that it makes one wonder if this heat wave isn’t man made. Three rebels groups that have been fighting the Chadian army for just under a decade managed to cross hundred of miles of open desert and then storm and capture 90% of the capital of this landlocked nation over the weekend. It is hard to imagine that the army did not see the dust of a hundred vehicles flying across the desert. Still, it appeared that the national army was caught off guard. Perhaps it is because they never expected to have to lift a finger in their own defense.

France has been a longtime ally to the government there and has intervened on several occasions to thwart rebel attacks. However this time is different.

France is soon to lead a large UN sanctioned peacekeeping mission composed of the European Union’s peacekeeping force – EURFOR – and classical UN peacekeepers from all over the world. The mission, dubbed MINURCAT, is designed to bring peace and stability along the Chad/Sudan and Chad/Central African Republic borders. On Sunday, the French defense minister declared that, in keeping with its role in this peacekeeping force, France would remain neutral. However just 30 minutes later, the French foreign minister announced that France would not remain neutral and would defend the rule of law and legitimacy underlining that President Deby had been democratically elected.

True. Deby was elected.

Deby was elected but only after he launched a military coup to overthrow the previous president then lifted term limits when he came to the end of his second term in office. That last maneuver caused massive defections in the army and even some of his own family members took up arms against him.


I cannot help but wonder if France’s sudden neutrality wasn’t also motivated by the harsh characterization of French nationals in Chad following the episode when a French NGO, Zoë Ark, nearly got away with abducting several hundred Chadian children on the pretense that they were Darfur refugee orphans who needed urgent medical attention in France. Not so true.

When pressed for the truth, Zoë representatives stated that international law required that they take kids from poor homes where they are suffering and transfer them to better homes where they will be love and cared for. They may have been driven by compassion, but they drove right across a bunch of laws protecting children. In the end, it was proven that the children were not orphans, refugees, sick, or even from Darfur, and it was suggested that the children were actually heading for cash-paying, barren French couples. The parents who released control of the children were told that the children were going to get an education, a retreat, or day trip, and would return shortly. The Chadian judiciary worked its magic and sentenced everyone to eight years of hard labor in Chadian prisons. After that episode, it was open season on the French. Anything French was ridiculed, spat upon, and trampled in the streets. Now that Chadians desperately need their help, the French … well … they may just … bide … their … time.

Is that too cynical of me?

Perhaps. Today however the tides seem to have changed again. The United Nations Security Council, reacting to analyses that an overthrow of the Chadian government could mean far more instability in the region and especially in Darfur, called on all member states to respond to the pleas of the current government and prevent its overthrow. In short, the UN has given France free reign to lift their neutrality and use military means to rout the rebels. What did the French think?

Well, their reactions have been almost just as contradictory as in the first instance.

First the foreign affairs minister announced that, despite the findings of the UN Security Council, France would not change its current stance of neutrality but would maintain its presence to ensure the safety of evacuating civilians and those remaining in the city.

But then, not 15 minutes later, the president of French gave a speech in which he stated that France would not shy away from its duty, making direct reference to the UN Security Council’s call for action from member states.

What will it mean if French decides to throw its weight behind the Chadian government and chase the rebel back across the border into Darfur? I am not certain, but I am apprehensive. Things quieted almost immediately after the rebels left for their mad trek across the desert. A heated retreat would be instability at best and renewed fighting on a larger scale on the other side of the spectrum.

Keep following the news and I will try to do the same.

Maa salaam

Time condensed entries

FINALLY HERE

How to describe Darfur? I guess I can say what it isn’t. It is not a zone of perpetual violence and despair. If there is fighting, it is not without large areas of calm, rebuilding, and cautious optimism. Despite the ethnically charged displacements, it is still a land of diverse people with different histories united in this area by thousands of years of trade, conflict, intermarriage, and ties to the land.

My first impressions when I arrived here were that the town is silent. The only sound one hears in the residential neighborhoods is that of the water boys rapping on the plastic jugs hanging from their donkey drawn water wagons alerting people of their presence. If you are close enough, you can hear the aden, or call to prayer. Our office and residence is close to two mosques but neither blasts its speakers like the ones in the center of town.

The streets are bustling with motorized rickshaws or tuk tuks, yellow taxis, and lots of donkey or horse drawn flat-bed carts. Over 200 vehicles have been carjacked in the past year, so NGOs no longer drive their signature shiny white land rovers or Toyota cruisers. Instead, we rent tiny cars that look like toys they are so small. They often get stuck in sand. So much for the romantic image of knights galloping off to save the day. Here we resemble more Don Xiote dwarfing his tiny burro. The work here is focused mostly on three large camps that lie just 20 minutes outside the city. You need a permit to go there. Actually you need a permit to move anywhere. But I suppose that is not so unusual given the unresolved conflicts in the area.

It has been cold at night, but the season is due to change in mid-February. Lizards, birds, and ants abound. Cats skirt across backyards belonging to everyone and no one. Hard to explain how such wild cats can be so tame and accustomed to humans. On my way to what has been a long series of meetings with international and local organizations, I met a tiny kitten standing guard in the entrance to the OCHA building. I walked up to it and it did not flinch. (Does he belong to you?) I motioned to the human guard by his side. “No, he is wild, just push him aside,” he replied.

These are not the feral cats I once uncovered under my mother’s house. Maybe the gentle desert breeze brings out another side.

SWEATING DUST

Anything that stands still for more than a few hours here is bound to be covered in a fine film of dust. I mean that quite universally. I learned my lesson when I reached for a Kleenex to cover my sneeze and got a nose full of sand dust that had delicately and invisibly settled on the waiting facial tissue.

That reality may explain why nothing seems to stay in one place for very long here. The political and humanitarian crisis shifts so regularly that it makes it difficult to know if today’s project design will still be valid tomorrow. (A scary prospect when you are charged with designing a regional project). One overarching reality is that areas that are quiet today may become volatile no go zones tomorrow; so, we plan for instability while toiling for sustainable, lasting, foundational peace.

When I come home and get ready for bed, I find that my t-shirt is invariably covered in brown dust, but only on the inside against my skin. I know I am breathing dust. But am I sweating it as well?

A BOY NAMED SKY

Sitting under a cloudless sky on a very windy but lazy Friday afternoon, reading my Darfur book, two boys around 8 or 9 years of age walk up to greet me. They don’t actually say anything. They just stand there trying not to stare at me perched precariously on the edge of the cement block near my office. I pretend not to see them so that I can finish the paragraph. The sun is really bright today and I am squinting to read from the pages of this paperback by Alex De Waal. Finally I look up and ask the boy “maa ismuka?’ The boy motions that he cannot speak, so I ask again in sign language. I point at him and then move two fingers across my chest. (What is your name?) He smiles, moves two fingers across his chest and points upward (My name is sky).

Friday is a high holy day when everything is closed. Last week the Sudanese government mandated that Friday and Saturday be enforced as the official weekend. The work week is from Sunday to Thursday. This has changed from time to time with combinations of half days and reduced hours and it will most likely change again.

The international community here - organizations and non-governmental organizations alike - generally adhere to this schedule as well. It would be a cardinal sin to disturb someone on a Friday here. Saturdays are generally used to catch up with report writing. But since I arrived in Darfur I find myself writing reports everyday. Until our activities get underway, reports on meetings are the best way for me to get my mind around the ten thousand different elements that make up the political, ethnic, economic, social, and conflict environment that is Darfur.

Chad exploded in violence yesterday with rebels threatening to overthrow the government. This war has major repercussions for the nature of our work here. The president of Chad is believed to have been supporting the rebel groups operating in Darfur. If he is ousted, then the rebels will have lost their main support and the war here could either completely evaporate or intensify as groups feel a need to dig in. It anyone will feel the effects, it will be western Darfur first and foremost. In north and south Darfur, we are slightly more removed but still following the situation closely.