Experience of another Nubian knight - good description of the bureaucracy

Diary from Sudan:

" The day starts early, as 46 humanitarians, from the UN and NGOs, board a WFP/UN-AMIS Bombardier plane. For two hours, we cruise West at 24,000 feet over a deserted landscape, and hundreds of miles pass quickly as passengers sleep. There are no signs of life as we fly over the void between Khartoum and Darfur. As we start to descend, dried up stream beds, and the ever changing shades of reddish brown landscape, is finally cut by tracks and then one long straight dirt road. A cluster of round huts, each with its own walled compound, in groups of fifty or more appear, to create a village. Each village is surrounded by rectangles of different shapes. Man's agricultural mark on the land. We fly over village after village, all surrounded by tracks, some near a road, others perched in the middle of nowhere.

People live here because there is water underground, and with water comes life. They have lived here for thousands of years. But no more. Every village is empty, many burned, as every family was swept away by the tragedy that is Darfur. This is a desolate landscape the size of Texas. A place I've heard referred to as a war zone, or the wild-west. It is home to over 2 million displaced people. Now it is very real.

Everything takes time. And time is on the side of the government bureaucracy that regulates humanitarian access within Sudan. To get to Darfur you need a visa from a Sudanese embassy, once in Khartoum you need to get four copies of a HAC authorization each with your picture, copies of your passport and Sudan visa, and, three days in advance, a scarce seat on a UN flight. The Humanitarian Aid Commission, commonly known as the HAC, manages all movements of the humanitarian community. After our flight, within the first hour on the ground in El Fasher, we are off to the HAC office to register. Without proper registration I will be kicked out. I become an employee of my host NGO and everything is fine. Three copies of my HAC authorization are sent to checkpoints throughout the town. I now have authorization to spend time here and explore the Zam Zem IDP camp.

In El Fasher we'll live in a compound with guards. Thankfully near the center of town, away from the occasional gun fights in the market and the GOS (Government of Sudan) garrison near the airport. Our white land cruiser with its tall radio antennae, NGO markings and large flag, cannot stray more than a kilometer from town. The 'no guns aboard' decal and humanitarian markings no longer provide any protection. Land cruisers, with a mounted heavy machine gun, are the ubiquitous weapon of this desert war. They are robbed, and drivers often left on the road far rom town, or at times to be killed. NGOs tell their drivers that if they are held up at gunpoint, to simply had over their keys and the vehicle. The GOS accuses NGOs of handing over the keys of vehicles to the rebels.

To get to most IDP camps, especially ones that are far from the three major towns in Darfur (El Fasher, Nyala, and Geneina), you need to travel by helicopter. If the camp is close, a miniature rented, mini van, or horse drawn cart have replaced the white NGO land cruiser. Tomorrow we'll travel south, 15 km to the Zam Zem camp in a dilapidated mini bus. Like all NGOs we do not want to be associated with any armed escort. The Tawila IDP camp 30 km to the west is no longer safely reached by land.

El Fasher has a climate at this time of the year that is perfect, a dry Mediterranean heat that is certainly cooler than Spain in the summer. The town has a new paved main street and there are a few new buildings and a mosque going up. Little else seems to have changed in years. The airport, built by the British when planes first flew over the Sahara, hasn't changed much at all. It looks new at least when compared to the low brick walled homes that line the dusty dirt streets that run throughout the town. El Fasher is a place of contrasts. Like big white, six winged, insects, 18 enormous AMIS and UN helicopters sit on the sand around the airport. Alone and separate, an armed camouflaged GOS helicopter lies waiting. Driving to our compound we pass AMIS armored personnel carriers, horse drawn carts with drivers holding a whip and sitting on two 80 gallon barrels of water, soldiers standing on a land cruiser with a mounted heavy machine gun, goats who claim the road, donkeys some with riders or pulling carts, some simply lost in the traffic of small taxis.

Time is not on the side of the NGO humanitarian worker. Every movement of NGO expatriate staff is regulated and limited by government controls. Their space to work, the 'humanitarian space' that enables a group of people to care for others within a war zone, is getting smaller. Humanitarian space requires some degree of security, not protection from the barrel of a gun, but from the warring sides and a knowledge of the land and respect from its people. With rebel groups and government proxy groups splintered, making ever shifting alliances across the land, groups of armed bandits roam the countryside praying on any convoy. Time is not on the side of the IDPs in this war that has no peace in sight. In the mean time, hopefully, the new UNAMID forces, if and when, they are properly armed and deployed, will bring some semblance of security. One has to remain hopeful.

The internet and the phone lines are down. I'll try to send this off tomorrow."

This passage appeared on ReliefWeb - a great website for those looking for a career of cold showers, little pay, long hours, and relative obscurity while pouring your heart and creativity into one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of your life.

When Good Guys Go Bad

Time magazine printed an article that presents more nuanced view of the conflict in Darfur. Anyone who has read any of Alex De Waal's books on Darfur knows that the conflict cannot be classified simply as the massacre of Africans by Arabs, but that is the general theme that we seen in public rallies. Maybe it is because it is easier to rally public sentiment around black and white issues rather through a more complete presentation of the facts. This photograph was taken by Yuri Kozyrev / Noor for TIME.


The Enough campaign is as compelling as it is accurate. There have been massacres here at the hands of Arab militia against non-Arab groups, and you will not find many Arab groups among the displaced. But it is important to underscore the fact that the non-Arab groups are also armed and have not simply stood aside and watched their people be marginalized politically and economically by the central state. They have taken up arms, mobilized small armies, and engage regularly in armed skirmishes with the national army and Arab militia groups.

This Time Magazine article is seeking to balance the perspectives on the war and not the change your mind about what is right or wrong about the conflict. Nor does it seek to justify the government's response to rebel attacks. It is not an apologist article. The Save Darfur campaign will tell you that there is no comparison between the government of Sudan forces and the so-called African rebel forces. But in my perspective, war is never clean. There are no good guys.

Please read the article. It reminds me somewhat of what happens to members of racial groups in the US that came together to defend their neighborhoods against racism and oppression. The Italians had their Mafia, Latino gangs keep their women safe from outsiders, African-American gangs started for much of the same reason. Protect the neighborhood from the real threat of outside oppression, violence, and theft. If police refuse to patrol your neighborhoods, you launch your own protection group. You collect funds from your community to keep THEM safe. Talk to the Hmong, Vietnamese, and Laotian groups in Los Angeles and they will tell the same story. They felt exposed as a community. No one seemed to understand their needs. Something had to be done.

Times change and needs change. Groups eventually morph into burdens for their communities rather than assets. Somewhere along the way, members lose their way, the cause is lost, and they start to prey on their own.

Keep this in mind when you read this article. It is not a phenomenon that affects people thousands of miles away from you. It is phenomenon happening right now in your own neighborhood. What are we doing to save our own towns; our own backyard Darfurs?

Beating the heat but digging the warmth.

I have been lucky so far to avoid moving outside too much in the heat but that will change once we begin making trips to the rural areas of North and South Darfur. There is a constant breeze and last night at around sundown I saw my first clouds in nearly two months. Everyday is a cloudless day. I know that sounds ideal in western terms where we are obsessed with warm sunny days, but here a warm sunny day is overrated and people clamor for shade and the relief and promise that a cloudy sky brings.

I have not done enough to describe my physical surroundings so I will try to do more here now and in the future.

First, it is sandy but not void of water. I am constantly amazed by the relative ease with which people will pour what seems like endless quantities of water on neighborhood trees. Trees usually have small moats around them made of cement or dirt and it is customary to fill them up two or three times a week. Most houses also have a grey-water (used water) trough that leads to the trees adorning the front of their houses. I am not saying that trees abound in Darfur. I am referring to the neighborhoods of Nyala and El Fasher where each street has at least one set of trees planted all around the same time. Ficus trees seem to be a favorite. And they are spoiled rotten.

The roads in town and to many rural centers are paved but are usually covered on either side by the encroaching sand. So in the end, a two lane road becomes a single-laned, narrow path or completely covered in sand. The maintenance required to keep a paved road clear is so high that it is a wonder why the roads are paved at all. Still, it is easier to cross a sandy path with an asphalt foundation than a open wilderness sandy path.

My own residence is located in a quiet neighborhood. The only noises are the kids belting out the national anthem - more of a screaming session than actual melodies but that is normal for early primary school kids, I suppose. We get the periodic calls for prayer now that the nearest mosque has repaired their giant speakers. I mentioned the boys selling water from donkey-drawn carts who tap a slow rhythmic beat to wake up anyone thinking about sleeping in. And then there are my friends the very noisy and nosy birds. Loud chirping and very insistent about inspecting every inch of your personal space.


My cousin Vanessa will have a special appreciation for these birds because they are expert spider hunters. If you have a spider in your room, open your door and they will swoop in eat the spider, take down all your cobwebs or spiderwebs, and be off in a flash. Cant explain it. Just saw it with my own eyes on several occasions. I happen to like spiders, so I guess they had better find a better hiding place than my bedroom if they wish to survive. I dont leave my door open too long, for fear of what else these birds may make off with. I guess I could call them sparrows, for the sake of giving you an image of how they look. They just have boom boxes for vocal chords.

None of my streets are paved but everyone has a beautifully decorated brick wall with a cement finishing. Everyone is very cordial. And children run the streets in pack of ten, playing football, heading sheep, or just out and about looking for things to do.

My house is composed of a 10x10 room that stands alone. I have to go outside (shut the door to keep out the birds) and make my way 40 feet to get the toilet and shower units. I have about the same distance to get to the kitchen and I have no sitting room as yet. I do have plans to build a sitting room outside to enjoy the warm starry nights and hold dinner parties with friends. We have a sundown curfew so I do not move around at night, but I do have two guest beds for those wanting to stay later and crash for the night.

The routine so far consists of the weekly meetings with international nongovernmental organizations on various themes. We usually use these opportunities to update one another on developments in the field, populations in need, and security incidents on the road. We have about two or so a week now and I will likely add a few more as we increase our activities and reach.

I also meet with Sudanese organizations to get an idea of the needs in the areas outside Nyala adn Fasher. It is rather tedious so far, and I look forward to visiting some of the discussed communities to get a better sense of the actual needs. Hope that gives you some sense of my physical surroundings and my routine. I will go more into depth on the actual work on my next message.

For now, I just try to stay cool during the day, and soak up the warmth of Sudanese hospitality, which seems to have no bounds.