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On
the Politics of the Situation I am now in the town Abeche in Eastern Chad after sorting out photo and travel permits in the capital city. I will tentatively be in the border region of Chad and Sudan until late August. I came here because within the last seventeen months over 1.5 million Sudanese from the Darfur regions of Western Sudan have been displaced and many more are affected by what appears to be a government-backed scorched-earth policy arisen from racial/ethnic hatred.
Last night I sat in on a coordination meeting hosted weekly by UNHCR (United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees) and also attended by directors of the (non-governmental) aid organizations operating in Eastern Chad. It was in French, but essentially the organizations are still trying to standardize the way they do things such as recording statistics and reporting information to make UHNCR’s managing job much easier. Everyone here has different ways of doing things. To make matters worse the rainy season is nearly to full strength making many routes between camps and bases impassable for days, even a week or more after a heavy downfall. Such conditions are hurling wrenches into the gears of the transportation of items such as food and even water to camps that still are without adequate water supply or systems. World Food Program has made attempts to preposition food stock and basic supplies apparently in vain. Is considering alternate routes and even airdrops, which equates to added logistical chaos and escalated expenditures. It has been evident now for some time that the nervous preparation for the rains would crumble under the weight of the growing desperate population because of lack of international donor and policy support. On the other side of the border the Janjaweed have systematically destroyed foodstocks, seedstocks, water wells and irrigations systems, agricultural implements, and livestock---and in the process created an insecure "war-affected" population of 2.3 million people. Insecurity is not an accidental byproduct of the war in Darfur: it is the primary instrument of genocide. The Janjaweed, in this case, are the primary means of insecurity as they are so consistently and authoritatively reported as working militarily with Sudan’s Khartoum Government security and regular military forces. They are the primary weapon by which Khartoum has conducted its genocidal war on the African peoples of Darfur. A Sudanese refugee from Darfur quoting the Janjaweed militia who attacked, burned and looted his village killing 500 of 2,000 residents in a single attack: ‘We don’t like black people in Darfur. Sudan is meant for Arabs.’ Testimonies like the aforementioned are not uncommon from the amassing refugee population in Eastern Chad. As of yesterday the total displaced Sudanese in official UNHCR mandated camps stands at approximately 127,991. This is excluding fifteen to thirty thousand more in two camps currently in formation, and God only knows how many more along the border. It is estimated that well over 200,000 have crossed into Chad with more arriving every day. That migration was lethal for some and terrifying at best for most. Collaborating reports from several refugees I talked with in two camps tell of traveling only by night so as to avoid being hunted. Some were even followed by the Antinov bombers and Janjaweed and attacked again after resettling in other areas of Darfur. The Janjaweed are described as Arab horseback militia that have been terrorizing the Western Darfur provinces for nearly nineteen years, according to some refugees I have spoken with. Their capabilities and intentions have significantly expanded since the beginning months of 2003. This evolution in tactics and strength is believed to be directly because of backing – even involvement – from the Government of Sudan. The government, however, has denied displaced person’s claims that it backs the militias with the same helicopter gunships, Antinov bombers and military vehicles used in the 21-year civil war in Southern Sudan now in a new campaign that has been equated with the language of ethnic cleansing. Many experts considering all things are adding Darfur up to genocide. The mass media as a whole, I feel, must now carry the burden of setting the ambiance of disinterest for perhaps the greatest humanitarian disaster in the world today. For it is the media that informs the public which then in turn place pressure on policy makers and it is the policy makers that must now be called upon to intervene on behalf of millions to avert further disaster again in Africa. I have a dream of world citizens one day making a commitment to the human condition measuring up to the most sacred held marriage or religious belief. It is something to be cherished and nurtured. It is not to be taken for granted or something to be careless with. It takes faithfulness, patience and dedication from all who are involved, while the slightest imbalances are truly significant and have repercussions – even if they aren’t experienced immediately. The ball
is in our court as members of the most influential society of the human
race to ever walk the face of the Earth. I came here because I have
something to communicate – because I too wish to be influential.
I hope to influence you. The testimony I bear is not personally my own
but, in a way in which I am not fully aware, I am responsible for it
and I am one with it by fundamentally sharing membership of one race
– the human race. More:
Read Reed's dispatches from Chad to his friends back home. For
more information on the Sudan, go to: Useful
sources for more information: |
The
desolate town of Abeche in Eastern Chad
On
the politics of the situation: July 20, 2004