The Future of Aid in Darfur: Why it’s the Wrong Time to Leave

So far in this year alone, approximately 78,000 people in Darfur have been displaced due to the Sudanese government regime’s military offensive, “Operation Decisive Summer”. The Operation’s purpose is to end armed rebellions in Sudan. The term “armed rebellions” is a little misleading, however, considering that these are groups of Sudanese individuals fighting back against the regime’s implementation of ethnic cleansing and ruthless attacks on civilians.

78,000 displaced people actually may be too small of a number, as “the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs received reports of some 130,000 additional internal displaced persons” that it has not been able to comprehensively verify at this time.

On July 31, 2007, the United Nations and the African Union created what is known as the African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur, or UNAMID. This group was established with the mission of “protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian aid, and helping political process in Darfur”. The current authorization of this group was scheduled to be until June 30, 2015, which in considering Darfur’s current status, seems to be a deadline too quickly approaching.

Several UN Security Council members are not in favor of withdrawing UNAMID forces at that time given the violence and conflict that is still such a problem for the country. Luckily, “the UN Secretariat, in agreement with the Council for Peace and Security of the African Union, has requested for the Security Council the extension of UNAMID’s mandate for an additional year, until June 2016”. On June 24, members of the UN Security Council are scheduled to meet to discuss this renewal of UNAMID’s mandate.

While the group has made some progress, it has not been able to establish itself as a legitimate, continually reliable source of help and aid. Yesterday morning, in a report to the UN Security Council, Assistant Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations Edmond Mulet stated that the peace process has had “very limited progress”.

One of the most significant reasons that only limited progress has been made is because of the Khartoum regime. ”UN chief Ban Ki-moon’s latest progress report on the force said there were 60 ‘incidents and hostile attacks against UNAMID’ in the three months [prior] to May 15 [2015] compared with 46 in the last quarter”. The Khartoum regime has been responsible for and involved in numerous attacks against the aid group. UNAMID aggravated Khartoum last year when the group began investigating an alleged case of mass rape of over 200 women and girls by the Sudanese army in the North Darfur town of Tabit.

While Sudan was busy denying the allegations, they were also denying UNAMID or any other peacekeeping group access to the town. They essentially were trying to keep those inside the town (alleged victims of the attack) quiet, and with no chance of spreading the word of any events that had taken place. After UNAMID began looking into the investigation, Khartoum ordered the group out of the country. However, UNAMID is adamant in their role to get aid to those who so desperately need it, and held their presence in Darfur.

Khartoum’s response to the UNAMID investigation seems questionable considering their denial of the alleged case. This would not be the first instance of an apparent disconnect between the Sudanese regime and Sudanese reality. Sudan’s Deputy UN Ambassador Hassan Hamid Hassan recently told the UN Security Council that, “the violence and displacements [in Sudan] were mainly due to tribal clashes and attacks by rebels, not government forces. He added that the government’s operations have brought stability to Darfur”. A recent Center for Security Policy article outlines how this statement cannot be accurate.

The Sudanese government regime has been and continues to attack civilian villages, buildings, and hospitals, especially in the Darfur, Blue Nile, and Nuba Mountain regions. They are the ones responsible for preventing international relief aid workers from getting to those who are dying from the lack of basic human needs. Sudan’s President Bashir has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for a reason.

UNAMID will hopefully be granted a year-long extension for their work. This extension, however, will prove to be a waste of time unless serious cooperation and negotiations between international relief aid workers and the regime are achieved. If this understanding does not occur, and UNAMID is forced to leave Darfur in the volatile state that it’s currently in, then we will have given the regime precisely what they asked for.