07/21/2004

The camp for internally displaced persons in Mornei in West Darfur has a population of 70,000 who have fled their villages as the result of destruction unleashed by the Janjaweed, the militia supported by the government of Sudan. People began fleeing to the town in October 2003, with more following in December and January; the largest influx was in March. Initially the only support available to the displaced was through the Sudan Red Crescent and the local government, but international non-governmental organizations, including Medicins sans Frontieres France, began working in the camp in January.

While local government officials maintained to Refugees International that the atrocities that drove the villagers to seek safety in Mornei are a thing of the past, the following interviews reveal the fear that the displaced still feel and their unwillingness to return without international guarantees for their safety.

The following summarizes an interview with a traditional chief who represents the population of the camp. He comes from Sulu, which he left in December because armed men with guns killed the Chief of Police, stole animals, and burnt the houses in the village. He fled with his wife and 9 children - 6 boys and 3 girls.

All the NGOs who work here have projects but the projects are not yet completed.  Many people have died due to malnutrition and lack of food.  The food rations are late and not enough.  There is also a problem of ration cards, not everyone who should have a card has a card.  Not everyone who needs aid is getting aid.  Also the food does not last the entire month because the rations are too small. We lack proteins and sugar and we have no money.

Security has improved but the men do not go out because it is too dangerous.  The women go to collect fire wood. Yes, women have been attacked by the Janjaweed while gathering wood and we report these attacks to the police but the police have done nothing.  However, since the Prime Minister came and visited the security is better and now the women go to collect firewood escorted by the police - this works better.

The Government is lecturing us to go back home and telling all of us that it is safe.  I do not think it is safe.  Everyone is afraid of the Janjaweed because of the weapons; there has been no collection of weapons.  We are afraid to get killed.

My main worries are security and food. We are damaged economically; we need to repair the damage and need help to get us back to our previous lives.

We are afraid of the government. If we talk to a mission, like you, the security people come after us, so we are afraid. The NGOs and the UN are giving us what we need with materials, but we want them also to find a solution for the security problem and the future of Sudan. There is a need to collect the weapons, to find a solution for all the weapons.  If the weapons are collected we will go back. A lot of people are saying that it is safe, but they are not doing anything about safety.

If I had Secretary General Kofi Annan or President Bashir in front of me I would say that our youth goes to Khartoum and never comes back.  We need a balance on our resources for all the states of Sudan. This will lead to peace and will develop and improve our places.

RI interviewed this group of four women together. They all belong to the same extended family and live together in the same compound unit.  They originally came from the village of Tonoko, a three-day walk from Mornei.

We left our village because the Arabs were fighting us so we ran away. We left in early January.  We lost nine members of our extended family during this fighting.  Many more died in the village.  One day we found 16 bodies in the village all dead - not buried, just lying there.  We ran with the clothes on our back and did not arrive with any money.  There are a total of 27 members in our family.

NGOs give us food, oil, protein cookies for the kids, but it is not enough.  We collect charcoal and wood for cooking.  Everyday when we go to collect wood we see the Arabs and when we do we run away. They have not done anything to us, but they raped our neighbor here in the camp and she eventually died.  We are very afraid of the Janjaweed.  

We have no shelter at home; there is nothing left.  We do not see the government here or the police or military; they do not help us.  We have no land to farm on.  

If the UN and the NGOs tell us it is safe to go home then we will go home.  If the government tells us to go either by force or voluntarily we will go to Chad; we will not go home. We refuse the inside security of Sudan - we want international people to help us with our safety. We do not believe the government because they are the ones that killed our family members and neighbors.

Fidele Lumeya, Shannon Meehan, and Daniel Wolf are presently in Darfur, Sudan.