Ingrid MacDonald
Feature
Desperate in Darfur
by Matt Nippert
Civil war is killing western Sudan. Can’t we play more than a token role?
Injuries overseas often lead to logistical nightmares, but when Ingrid MacDonald broke her leg playing touch rugby in Khartoum it took a full two months to secure an exit visa in order to return home to New Zealand for follow-up medical treatment.
MacDonald was working as a policy adviser for Oxfam in Sudan’s capital, and her sporting accident highlights the difficulties in getting information and aid into and out of the troubled region.
She says problems with moving in and out of the country are “being worked on, in consultation with Sudan’s government”. Her diplomatic language is informed by an awareness that aid agencies, and even the United Nations, operate in Sudan only at the pleasure of the local government. Criticism can lead to expulsion, as the head of CARE and the ambassadors for Canada and the European Union discovered last month.
And earlier this year, Sudan denied visas to a UN delegation reporting on human rights in Darfur. Undaunted, the delegation concluded that the situation was “grave and the corresponding needs profound”.
Darfur, a region in western Sudan with a population of 6.4 million, has been gripped by a complex civil war since 2003 that has killed up to 400,000 and caused 2.2 million people to flee their homes. Oxfam is one of the major relief agencies offering humanitarian assistance to the estimated four million people in the region reliant on aid.
But although the situation in Darfur has generated significant international attention, with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week visiting Sudan after announcing a new 26,000-strong peacekeeping force, the public could be forgiven for thinking that the crisis is relatively minor and nearing resolution.
The New Zealand Herald and the New York Times have both published more stories featuring Paris Hilton than Darfur, and the much-trumpeted new peacekeeping operation will not be fully deployed until the latter half of 2008.
MacDonald says that international institutions are moving far too slowly, New Zealand is not pulling its weight, and that the number of people reliant on humanitarian aid has doubled since the UN Security Council first passed resolutions on Darfur three years ago. “Everyone looks at the UN as being the answer, but this stuff takes a long time to roll out,” she says. “We need something now to stop the attacks on civilians and aid workers.”
The Independent reported that aid workers in Darfur suffered 30 attacks during June, ranging from carjackings to kidnappings and shootings, while last year the monthly average was fewer than 10.
Last month, according to UN figures, the number of serious incidents targeting humanitarian workers increased to 35.
The declining security situation led Oxfam last year to pull out of Gereida, a refugee camp housing 130,000 people. MacDonald says that a group of men “invaded two compounds, raped one of the workers from a French NGO, conducted mock-executions of others, and stole all our vehicles”.
Humanitarian workers are facing increasing difficulties, but those living in the camps fare worse. At Kalma, a settlement of 90,000 and the recipient of donations raised by Oxfam New Zealand, seven women were abducted and gang-raped while out collecting firewood last August.
MacDonald says the 7000-strong African Union force in the country had been providing protection for women venturing outside the camps, but recent fighting has put the under-resourced peacekeepers on the defensive.
“The AU has had 10 soldiers killed so far this year,” says MacDonald. “And a lot of these firewood patrols have dropped off.”
The length of the conflict, coupled with a slow-moving international response, is testing the resilience of millions.
Says MacDonald: “The worst thing you see is the level of anger and hopelessness that develops over time – the locals can see the international attention, people are coming in all the time – and yet it’s not getting any better.”
While the scope of the crisis is huge, with Oxfam alone supporting 500,000 people, MacDonald says the problems are not insurmountable. “You can make a difference – you have to be realistic, by yourself you can’t solve anything – but you can be part of the solution.”
So far, New Zealand’s role has been token. Our contribution to UN operations in Sudan at present totals just three military personnel, although Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated that she would consider any request for participation in the newly announced peacekeeping force.
Meanwhile, 26 other nations have pre-empted such requests, and not just major powers. Ireland has committed 200 soldiers; Sweden and Norway have announced a joint commitment of 350 engineers.
MacDonald says the New Zealand Defence Force – experienced in similar low-intensity conflicts such as Bougainville, East Timor and the Solomons – can and should make a difference in Darfur.
“If Sweden and Norway are sending units, why can’t New Zealand play more of a role?”
Oxfam: www.oxfam.org.nz or call 0800 400 666
