When UNSC enters the fray with the Khartoum regime, Darfur IDPs suffer
By Abdellatif Abdelrahman
August 15, 2011 — The proverb says; “when two elephants fight it’s the grass that suffers”. Similarly, when the genocidal regime of Khartoum fights with the UNSC it is the IDPs and refugees of Darfur who suffer.
When judges of the pre-trail chamber at the International Criminal Court (ICC), issued a warrant of the arrest for al-Bashir, charging him with crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity; the National Congress Party (NCP) of the fugitive president immediately enacted its vengeance and on 3 March 2009, expelling 13 of the world’s most distinguished humanitarian organisations from Darfur. The expelled organisations were providing the IDPs with water, food, medicine, health services, and other essential life-saving materials.
In order to fathom the depth of the aid chasm left in IDP camps after the expulsion of the NGOs; I contacted Sheikh Zakaria Mohamed from Kalma IDP camp and Halima Abdulla from Abu Shouk IDP camp.
They unanimously said that the expelled NGOs used to provide 13kg of food per person per month, but today people are given only 3kg. They added that this is sometimes delayed by three or four months. Therefore, the IDPs are forced into hard labour such as making bricks around the IDPs camps.
Halima from Abu Shouk IDP camp said that it’s also unwise for them to leave the camps, looking for work, because they fear being arrested or harassed by the Janjaweed militias who are forever patrolling around the camps.
“We queue through the night to fetch water from the tap and when you fail to get it, we have to fill one jerkin from rain water at the pool in the camp,” said Halima.
Sheikh Zakaria from Kalma explained that a family of 20 persons or more depend on the food distribution card of one person, due to ban on registration for new cards.
“When you feel ill there is nowhere to get treatment, because the two doctors of the centre select serious cases among the sick people,” said Zakaria.
Other IDPs who I personally talked in El-Geneina camps complained that the regime pushed the World Food Program (WFP) to let Sudan government take over distribution of relief items through its chamber of commerce, which the IDPs vehemently disagreed with.
Frankly speaking; it’s true that finding a political solution to the conflict in Darfur has negatively affected the IDPs and refugees in the camps; most of the camps, if not all, receive only salt and sorghum and no other items.
No feeding centres for the children, no pre-natal clinics, no trauma centres, no ambulances (the IDPs are using wheelbarrows to carry patients), no tents or shelters to protect the IDPs from rain water, no water because most of the camps were equipped to receive a limited number of people in 2005 and now the numbers have significantly increased. Therefore, suicide; delivery problems; and diseases like fistula, malnutrition are rampant among the IDPs.
On 29 July 2011 the UN Security Council decided to extend the mandate of African Union-United Nation Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for one year and to empower the mandate of UNAMID; and to create coordination between the UNAMID, the UN Interim Security Forces of Abyei (UNSFA) and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
However, on 3 Aug 2011, the Sudan government was highly critical of the UNSC resolution, saying it’s interfering in Sudan’s internal affairs and that the resolution attempts to distort the image of the country. Hence the government of Sudan reaffirmed that any attempt to impose any new obligation, is contrary to what has been agreed upon and will lead Sudan to refuse cooperation and to disengage from any previous obligation related to the acceptance of the mission and its deployment.
Now as heavy clouds of dispute between Sudan Government and UNSC gather inthe sky; the IDPs and refugees of Darfur are very worried that this fight may compound their injuries.
This is a particular fear in today’s climate, as the regime of Khartoum resorted to cowardly behaviour; attacking UNAMID and humanitarian aid workers on the ground, to force UNSC not to take steps towards the implementation.
Of course; I am not saying UNSC should stop voting for resolutions because of the empty threats of Al-Bashir, but what are the precautions put forward by the UNSC to stop the criminal Al-Bashir from pouring his venom of anger on the vulnerable IDPs and refugees?
However, personally I do not expect quick implementation to the UNSC resolutions as was the case in Libya, when it is clear that UNSC has two kinds of resolutions; toothed and toothless.
The writer is based in Nairobi and can be reached at [email protected]