Darfur Update: Pockets of Suffering

by Michael Bear · 2009-03-18 22:26:00 UTC
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In recent Darfur news:

- A UNAMID peacekeeper was killed by "unknown gunmen" outside of Nyala, in South Darfur.

- An excellent article in the LA Times shows how the expulsion of aid agencies is beginning to affect the camps - children dying as hospitals remain closed, latrines overflowing, children in the camps no longer able to attend school.

- The article also discusses some of the problems with Bashir's plan to "Sudanize" relief operations - for instance, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society currently receives no support from the Sudanese Government, relying almost entirely on international funding in order to function.

- To get a sense of what it's like in the camps, see the excellent audio slideshow by the LA Times, highlighting the situation in Zam Zam camp in North Darfur.  The photos are amazing, as is the audio commentary.

It's true that we're facing a massive humanitarian catastrophe, but it's also true that the humanitarian community - and the people of Darfur - will probably, hopefully find a way to muddle through.

As LA Times correspondent Edmund Sanders explains during the audio slideshow:

"It's not likely that you're going to see widespread hunger or disease or humanitarian catastrophe - I think the international aid community will be able to weather, at least for the next three months.  But  what you are going to see - and what I think we're now seeing in Zam Zam - is pockets of suffering and places that are going to fall through the cracks"

I hope and pray he's right, at least about weathering the storm.

A last word from The Thirsty Palmetto, an aid worker writing from South Sudan:

"This ICC thing has gotten me rethinking the issue again. Mostly because I, very hypocritically, went all 'ohhhhh, without the NGOs they'll all DIE' when, in fact, I've often said that NGOs aren't really as effective as they are... a conscience salve for the rest of the world."

More often that not, I agree.

[Women in Zam Zam Camp - Photo from The Huffington Post / Mia Farrow]

Michael Bear
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