26,000

So you may have heard that Khartoum has finally agreed to allow UN peacekeeping troops into Darfur early 2008. ‘Finally’ is some of the responses that have been heard while others are saying ‘it’s not time yet’. When is the right time to send in 26,000 peacekeeping troops into a Darfur situation?

When this conflict began and it was being called a genocide, there were clear warring sides. You knew which area belonged to which group and what each side wanted. Now there are around 25 different rebel factions that all seem to want different things. At any point these 25 groups can unify or clash. So who are the bad guys that need to be stopped? Is it Khartoum? But Khartoum has agreed to the terms that the UN is coming in on so you have to know that there are enough loop holes that Khartoum can then continue their strategy. Well then the bad guys are the janjaweed. But who are they and are they really a threat to the civilian population anymore? They seem to be very disgruntled employees that are starting to turn on their employer because of lack of payment for their own people that they lost in someone else’s battle. So are they against what we all like to say is the black African Darfurian’s or are they now against the government? Well that one seems a little grey so then it has to be the rebel groups. So which rebel groups are the problems? The signatories, the non-signatories, the one who’s leader refuses to negotiate, the groups that have a few stolen trucks and satellite phones and call themselves a new rebel group? or is it all of them?

So ok maybe a clear enemy is not going to be defined so then it’s to defend citizens against acts of violence. With what force is allowed? Will it follow the failed AU force that as soon as they see trouble they turn tail and run afraid for their own lives? Are these peacekeeping soldiers ready to risk their lives for the Darfurian women that just need to collect a little firewood outside of the camps? I would like to say yes but I’m not sure that’s the reality. Or does the UN then enter into tribal disputes over cattle raids and issues that have been happening between tribes for thousands of years. The UN can protect the humanitarian agencies as they travel to areas of insecurity. This would open access to many areas that people are suffering because aid can not get through. However, the UN may be seen as an enemy thus creating us as more of a target but with a lot more weapons on our side.

The UN should come in and make our jobs a lot easier by allowing us to drive the roads with much more peace that danger will not be found along the way. But if the UN does become an enemy of any of these groups then we are seen siding with the enemy where before we were standing on neutral ground with wanted assets. So how do we separate ourselves from the work that the UN will be doing? Do we paint our vehicles a different color? Do we not accept convoys from the UN through insecure areas? How will this relationship work?

The general view from the Darfur population is that they are very happy that the UN will come in and bring a long awaited peace. The rest of us are not so certain. I heard one local man question how we could be so skeptical that there will be no peace when a fully equipped UN force is coming with all their equipment and guns. Just what we need, more guns in Darfur – that will solve the problem! Hey maybe I will be surprised and this time next year we will all be holding hands and skipping down the street. But I know that I have 26,000 uncertain questions that will only be answered as time plays out the UNMID scenario.

Is This Really Work?

Like most jobs I have good days and bad days. Sometimes I question why I do what I do and other times I wonder why I would ever want to do anything else. This last weekend was a weekend that I was surprised that I get to be paid for what I do. The plan was to take my first helicopter ride up to our base in the mountains north of Nyala and see as many schools as possible in three days to get numbers of students and to see the conditions of the classrooms.

My first helicopter ride was kid of fun. It flies much lower than an airplane so it was interesting to see all the remnants of burned villages and the nomadic population settlements as we flew over. It’s the middle of the rainy season right now and as we flew from Nyala to the mountains it just seemed to get greener and greener as we went. After we landed and did all our greetings, we dropped off our bags, had a quick meeting then rounded up some donkeys. Abdul (my education guy) and I had the goal of taking a three hour donkey ride out to a small village in the mountains to see their school and see what needs they had for the upcoming school year.

The first three hours of the ride out there were so amazing. It rained off and on which kept things cool and I was blown away by the beauty of this place. It felt like I was riding through a mystical place that only a few people are blessed enough to see. I couldn’t get enough of it. Having this experience on the back of a donkey just added to the romance of it all. It makes you aware of every slope, every puddle and every rock that you encounter along the way. For the most part we followed a small river all through the valley to get to the village. This meant that we had to cross this river about 25 times to get there. So needless to say, with the combination of the rain and the river crossings, I was very wet.



I did fairly well on my first donkey trip. I only fell off once. Well I didn’t really fall, my saddle rolled sideways on the donkey and I realized that I was going to fall off so I jumped. So I did land on my feet so I guess by Sudanese standards that’s not an official donkey fall – I guess this sort of thing happens a lot if they have created definitions for it. The really funny part (because it didn’t happen to me) was when Abdul got off his donkey to help me put the saddle back on and his donkey took off running through a field. So Abdul had to run after it trying to catch it and stop it. I would have taken a video of the whole process but Abdul was a little upset with his donkey so I did feel like taking a video would have been appropriate.

We made it up to this little village and spent about 30 mins there talking with the community leaders and some of the teachers. Then it was back on the donkey for another 3 hour trip back to the base. My legs were pretty much done when I got off my donkey in the village and realized that it was much more difficult to walk than it should be. So the ride back was more about the pain in my legs that I was experiencing than the beauty that surrounded me. But we made it back and days later my legs are still reminding me of my fabulous donkey ride through the mountains.

The next day a whole crew of us headed up a different corridor to do our various jobs. We went with the Water and Sanitation team as well as the Child and Youth protection team. It was a really fun trip with the whole crew. Barring a confusing altercation with a rebel group and a vehicle breakdown in the road, we finally made it to an amazing village that is full of fruit trees. After our meeting with the community and seeing the school and other sites we took a quick hike to an amazing valley full of water springs. On the way back as we walked along with some of the teachers and community leaders, we were given mango’s, orange’s and grapefruits from the orchard owners along the way. One of the owners invited us into his orchard to have our fill of delicious oranges right off the tree. We all ran around the inside of the orchard laughing and dripping with fruit juice. I really get paid to do this stuff?

The following day we visited a few other villages and had long drawn out meetings and discussions with communities about their needs and what we can do about them. Often they are asking for things like health that we can’t provide for them. So a lot of the time is spent explaining why we are limited in what we can offer. In this area due to the insecurity and also because we are one of the few NGO’s that are working in rural communities that are hosting IDP’s we are the only NGO around. Slowly we are recruiting other organizations to help us out but it is a slow process. So we do what we can, explain why we can’t do the rest and hope that someone will come and help us out soon.


The last community that we visited before we headed back to the base was another village full of fruit trees. As we sat down for our meetings, community members brought bags of oranges and guava’s and contributed to this growing pile in the middle of the circle. Here I was reminded what war does to a culture. I believe that all of Sudan was generous like this. Even though they are still very hospitable people I can see a difference in the communities that have been less affected by this conflict. So after our meeting and we were once again sticky with fruit juice we took a trek down to a beautiful waterfall. If there was a waterfall like this in Canada there would be a nice walking path up to it with steps and guard rails so that no one would get hurt. But in Sudan half the adventure was just getting to the waterfall let alone the waterfall itself. But we made it and all the guys that were with us quickly stripped down to their shorts and jumped in the water. There was just me and the protection manager for the girl representatives in the group. So we looked at each other and agreed – lets swim! So in all of our clothing we jumped in the water and enjoyed the moment. These kind of pleasures like water to swim in a fresh fruit off the trees are rare occasions here in Darfur so I soaked up every moment of it. So now when I’m having a frustrating day where trips are cancelled because of fighting on the road or when things just never happen in the time frame I need them to I can close my eyes and get back into the waterfall and remind myself what I great job I do have.