Darfur has been falling off the radar a bit over the past few weeks. The child-adoption scandal in neighbouring Chad and the potential implosion of the peace deal between Khartoum and South Sudan pushed the troubled region off the front pages.
The dearth of coverage of the subject doesn’t mean that there has been an improvement. In fact, the situation is worse now than at the beginning of the year. Yes, there are peace talks under way in Libya, but they are under way without the participation of some of the most important players. The two largest rebel groups in Darfur are refusing to take part. Among other things, they want a renegotiation of the terms for the talks and they want the talks moved from Libya to more neutral ground.
It is difficult for most people to imagine what a place that some describe as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is like. Darfur is big. It is part of the biggest country in Africa and Darfur alone is about the size of Botswana. Like Botswana, all parts of Darfur are not alike. The north is desert on the southern edge of the Sahara and home to few people, most of them nomads. Moving south, sand gives way to scrub that eventually gives way to bush and cultivated land. Some of the best citrus found in Khartoum markets grows in Darfur.
At the moment, there is a fragile layer of green covering much of central Darfur. It doesn’t last for very long, but it’s the rainy season, a wet season with about half the intensity of the wet season in Limpopo.
Prior to 1994, all of Darfur consisted of one state, but the government in Khartoum divided the region into three parts to ensure that there would not be a majority from the Fur ethnic group in any one state. Prior to separation, the state capital was El Fasher. El Fasher has now been relegated to the reduced status of capital of North Darfur. The states of West and South Darfur have their regional administrations located in El Geneina and Nyala respectively.
Darfur is overwhelmingly rural, however, the cities, especially Nyala, contain an infrastructure that is the envy of its neighbours next door in Chad and the Central African Republic. The largest towns across those borders, Abeche in Chad and Birao in the CAR have neither tarred roads nor a regular supply of electricity. Nyala boasts both, along with an international airport with regularly scheduled flights to the Middle East as well as a sporadic train service to Khartoum. Admittedly it is not much in Southern African terms, but it is the best infrastructure in the region.
With the number of foreigners rising dramatically as the African Union mission merges into the new hybrid operation with the United Nations, Darfur’s towns are experiencing the usual sort of growth that accompanies the arrival of expatriates at peacekeeping missions. Restaurants serving pizza, Indian curries and Lebanese shish-taouk are popping up as new houses are being built to take advantage of rents that are paid in dollars.
But don’t be fooled into believing that Darfur is experiencing an economic boom that is providing a better life for all — far from it. Darfuris don’t get to taste the pizzas coming out of the ovens in El Fasher unless they’ve managed to win the lottery and get one of the relatively lucrative UN or NGO jobs available. Life is tough even in times of peace; making a living off the land in Darfur is not unlike convincing the soil in the Northern Cape to yield fruit. Sadly, there has been no peace over the past five years. More than two million Darfuris have had their homes and possessions destroyed and live in camps either in Darfur or across the border in Chad. Armed attacks by government forces, government sponsored forces and rebel groups have increased in recent months. Peacekeepers and humanitarian workers are increasingly among the casualties.
Last year a peace agreement was signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to try to bring an end to the fighting and terror. It didn’t work. Some of the main players in the conflict refused to sign. Darfuris are still waiting for any sign that the government will make good on its commitment to provide security, compensate people who lost their homes, and create the conditions that would allow them to return home. This has not happened.
Expectations are high in Darfur that the hybrid mission, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAmid), will have the clout to force a peaceful solution to the Darfur crisis. UNAmid can and certainly will help, but it can only help to enforce a peace process that the main protagonists have agreed on.
There hasn’t been much evidence to suggest that security, compensation and the ability to go home are imminent for the people of Darfur. The government of Sudan and the main rebel groups are still jockeying for position, and until they have found some sort of common ground, UNAmid’s most important role will be as Darfur’s top employer.