Hell is…Life as an Aid Worker in Sudan, Part 2
Monday, December 17, 2007
Last week, we brought you the first installment of our posts from Khartoum where we looked at the difficulties facing NGO workers in Sudan. Advocate Melanie Teff and Advocacy Associate, Camilla Olson, recently spent three weeks in Sudan assessing the humanitarian situation for Darfuris and the shortfalls affecting those who work with them.
The NGO workers we met in Khartoum seemed pretty demoralized. And who wouldn’t be when it seems like the Government of Sudan goes out of its way to make your life as difficult as possible? If you are an NGO worker in Sudan, you need a government permit to do almost anything. Not only do you need an entry permit and a residence permit, but you need a photo permit in order to take even tourist photos, and you need a travel permit to even venture outside of the capital, Khartoum. Worst of all, if you want to leave the country, you need an exit visa. And then, of course, there are the re-entry visas to contend with.
Not only do you have to wade through the tediousness of bureaucratic procedures, you also have to deal with increased banditry and lawlessness. From January to October 2007 in Darfur, 12 humanitarians were killed, 118 were abducted during hijackings and 75 humanitarian premises were raided by armed men. It seems that each day in Darfur brings a new rebel group with a new acronym. All of these splinter groups prey on the UN and NGOs for their resources, particularly Land Cruisers and satellite phones. Because of the insecurity in Darfur, none of the organizations we spoke with are able to access their field sites by road. Instead they use “hit and run” tactics – paying for expensive helicopter flights to bring in staff for a few hours once a week to make sure a project is still running. They can’t even drive their Land Cruisers in main towns like Nyala or El Fasher because they will be carjacked. Instead they are forced to rent old beat up taxis in order to get around.
The majority of humanitarian workers we spoke with also told us they are certain that the Government of Sudan is monitoring their emails and listening to their phone calls. More than once when we got to that point in the conversation, the person we were speaking with would look around and whisper, “In fact, I’m sure they’re listening to us right now.”
We asked many aid workers why their organizations did not just pack up and go home, in protest at the difficulties they were facing. But they pointed out that millions of people are dependent on the assistance that they provide, and that if they left now, their organizations would probably never be permitted to re-enter the country. At the end of the day, despite all of the challenges, civilians in Darfur - who have been through horrific experiences during the conflict of the past four years - must not be abandoned by the international community just because their government is making it so difficult for people to access them with assistance.
Suffice it to say, the difficulties that the UN, international NGOs and civil society face in Sudan are enormous. But, just like those aid workers who are managing to stay the course despite the obstacles thrown in their path, the international community must stay the course and continue to support the humanitarian operation in Darfur. Until a peace deal is reached, it’s all that there is to keep the long-suffering Darfuri population alive.
-Camilla Olson
The NGO workers we met in Khartoum seemed pretty demoralized. And who wouldn’t be when it seems like the Government of Sudan goes out of its way to make your life as difficult as possible? If you are an NGO worker in Sudan, you need a government permit to do almost anything. Not only do you need an entry permit and a residence permit, but you need a photo permit in order to take even tourist photos, and you need a travel permit to even venture outside of the capital, Khartoum. Worst of all, if you want to leave the country, you need an exit visa. And then, of course, there are the re-entry visas to contend with.
Not only do you have to wade through the tediousness of bureaucratic procedures, you also have to deal with increased banditry and lawlessness. From January to October 2007 in Darfur, 12 humanitarians were killed, 118 were abducted during hijackings and 75 humanitarian premises were raided by armed men. It seems that each day in Darfur brings a new rebel group with a new acronym. All of these splinter groups prey on the UN and NGOs for their resources, particularly Land Cruisers and satellite phones. Because of the insecurity in Darfur, none of the organizations we spoke with are able to access their field sites by road. Instead they use “hit and run” tactics – paying for expensive helicopter flights to bring in staff for a few hours once a week to make sure a project is still running. They can’t even drive their Land Cruisers in main towns like Nyala or El Fasher because they will be carjacked. Instead they are forced to rent old beat up taxis in order to get around.
The majority of humanitarian workers we spoke with also told us they are certain that the Government of Sudan is monitoring their emails and listening to their phone calls. More than once when we got to that point in the conversation, the person we were speaking with would look around and whisper, “In fact, I’m sure they’re listening to us right now.”
We asked many aid workers why their organizations did not just pack up and go home, in protest at the difficulties they were facing. But they pointed out that millions of people are dependent on the assistance that they provide, and that if they left now, their organizations would probably never be permitted to re-enter the country. At the end of the day, despite all of the challenges, civilians in Darfur - who have been through horrific experiences during the conflict of the past four years - must not be abandoned by the international community just because their government is making it so difficult for people to access them with assistance.
Suffice it to say, the difficulties that the UN, international NGOs and civil society face in Sudan are enormous. But, just like those aid workers who are managing to stay the course despite the obstacles thrown in their path, the international community must stay the course and continue to support the humanitarian operation in Darfur. Until a peace deal is reached, it’s all that there is to keep the long-suffering Darfuri population alive.
-Camilla Olson
Labels: Darfur
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