Situation Report: Sudan

Civil wars between the Sudanese Government in Khartoum and various rebel groups have ravaged Sudan since its independence from British-Egyptian colonial administration in 1956. The most devastating consequences for local communities have been wrought by the conflicts in the regions of Darfur and southern Sudan. Although a peace agreement was signed between the Sudanese Government and the main southern rebel group in 2005, and while Darfur is to receive a boosted peace-keeping force by mid-2008, sustained peace in the near future is far from guaranteed for the people of either region.

DARFUR

Janjaweed militia and government forces have attacked and destroyed villages throughout the Darfur region since a string of rebel attacks on military bases in February 2003. Many observers assert the attack was just the spark that set off a powder keg, which itself resulted from long-term underdevelopment in the region and the marginalisation of Darfuri people by the Sudanese Arab elite.

Approximately 240,000 people have been killed during the conflict. Around 2.5 million people have been forced from their homes, 2.2 million of these being displaced within Sudan and 300,000 driven over borders to Chad and other neighbouring countries. Most of the displaced are African farmers from the Fur, Zaghawa and Massaleit tribes, while the majority of the Janjaweed militia are from nomadic Arabic-speaking pastoralist communities that herd camels in northern Darfur and cattle in southern Darfur.

Displaced people are frequently raped and murdered. They routinely see their villages burned and looted and their crops and livestock destroyed by the Janjaweed.

Many camps for displaced people are little better. People are often attacked and women raped when performing daily tasks like collecting firewood around the camps. Camps have also been targeted in larger-scale raids by armed militia.

Malnutrition is near emergency levels and health and hygiene have deteriorated. Aid agencies are however being forced to pull back health and other services due to the worsening security situation.

Fortunately, in July 2007 the United Nations (UN) Security Council approved a plan to bolster the current 7,000 African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops in Darfur with an extra 19,000 UN and AU troops by mid-2008. At Austcare we hope that this more secure environment will give our Protection Officers better access to displaced people and camps.

 Austcare's Protect Now program aims to build people's capacity to prevent risks and threats,
access their rights, and increase their security. 

Our protection officers are placed with UN agencies in the field in places like Darfur to ensure delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, monitor and report violence and human rights violations, and perform other tasks that help displaced people protect themselves against threats to their security while longer-term solutions are found.

Rita Mazzocchi has previously been an Austcare Protection Officer in southern Sudan and is now deployed in Darfur. Explaining some of the challenges she faces in her work, Rita says "there are layers of things going on here. Some are specific to a particular village or a particular group; others are broader, encompassing the international relationships in the region or the effects of desertification and population pressures."

SOUTHERN SUDAN

The tasks of Protection Officers in southern Sudan have been no less challenging. Since 1956 there have been two main periods of war between rebel groups in the south and the Sudanese Government in Khartoum. The most recent period of violence, running from 1983 to January 2005, left more than 2 million people dead and drove more than 4 million from their homes. Over 600,000 of these have fled to other countries, the rest remaining in various parts of Sudan.

Part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 between the Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was a deal to hold a national census to determine the power sharing percentages of the north and south at the national level. At this stage it appears that this census will be held in early 2008. In order to maximise their representation, the SPLM/A, now the authority in southern Sudan, is strongly encouraging displaced southerners to return to their places of origin. This however is problematic.

Southern Sudan is a desperately poor region. Decades of war have left it underdeveloped (there is around 16km of paved road in the region, which is roughly the size of NSW) and without educational, health or other public facilities. Levels of poverty, malnutrition, literacy and education are amongst the worst in the world.

Large-scale population return is exacerbating these conditions, and it is feared that it could cause widespread shortages of food and labour opportunities, which could in turn aggravate already-tense relationships between local communities.

Understandably, many internally displaced people and refugees are wary about returning home, with some groups having actually returned to camps in the north of the country that they had previously left.

The need for protection and the coordination of return movements is clear. As part of our Protection Program, Austcare has had field staff placed in southern Sudan since November 2005 to help coordinate the safe return and resettlement of displaced people to southern Sudan.

The peace in southern Sudan is still fragile, with tensions between the Khartoum Government and southern authorities over power-sharing arrangements and ownership of oil-rich areas still high. In Darfur, peace talks between the Sudanese Government and the numerous rebel and militia groups are not likely to progress beyond the current stalemate any time soon. The result for the millions of people whose lives have been uprooted will be continued displacement and vulnerability. Austcare's Protect Now program is critical in combating the many threats to the human rights of these people.

Please help Austcare continue our vital work to protect vulnerable people.