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 Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور (Re: Frankly)
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DARFUR-RESOURCES Jul-12-2005 (1,030 words) With photos posted June 22, 27 and 28. xxxi
Church workers say Darfur's real fight is over resources
By Paul Jeffrey
Catholic News Service
NYALA, Sudan (CNS) -- To an outsider, there does not appear to be much in Nyala to fight over: a lot of desert, a few camels and, for a couple months of the year when it rains, some green grass that provides a welcome respite from the otherwise omnipresent sand.
Yet church workers providing aid to some of the more than 2 million people displaced by fighting in western Sudan's Darfur region say that behind the violence lies a bitter struggle over diminishing supplies of water and arable land.
"This is a war that's first and foremost about resources," said Bjorg Mide, director of the ACT/Caritas Darfur Emergency Response, a program that brings together the world's Protestant and Catholic aid agencies in an effort to help people who have been chased from their homes by a scorched-earth campaign that many characterize as genocide.
U.N. officials say more than 180,000 people have died in the last two years because of armed conflict in the Texas-sized region of Darfur. Other experts put the death toll as high as 400,000.
The conflict grows from tension between two different ethnic groups -- African farmers and Arab nomads -- that otherwise have a lot in common. Both are dark-skinned. Both are Sunni Muslim. Both speak the same language, Arabic.
The two groups have shared Darfur for centuries and, although there have been occasional local outbreaks of violence, the relationship often has been cooperative and mutually beneficial. When farmers harvested their crops of millet or sorghum, nomads would move their cattle and camels into the fields to graze. The animals' manure left the fields more fertile for the following year. Traditional local authorities managed the complex system of interdependence.
Yet almost four decades of persistent drought and the steady encroachment of the Sahara Desert from the north have put stress on the relationship. Nomads have been forced to drive their cattle farther south in search of water and pasture. Conflicts in neighboring Chad, Libya and Uganda -- as well as in southern Sudan -- have increased tensions in the region and made weapons readily available. The replacement of many traditional structures of authority by delegates of the national government in far-off Khartoum has left local conflicts less likely to be resolved peacefully.
As the water table in many parts of Darfur has dropped, reports of oil wealth even deeper under the ground have exacerbated tensions and left oil-thirsty nations like China willing to back Khartoum internationally in exchange for unfettered access to petroleum.
The current crisis in Darfur began two years ago when two insurgent groups -- largely aligned with the African farming communities -- formed to fight what they claimed was the region's historic marginalization from the Arab-dominated central government, as well as to lay their claim for a rightful share of the region's subterranean wealth.
The government responded by arming Arab nomads, ostensibly to counter the threat of the insurgency. Yet Arab militias -- known as Janjaweed, or "devils on horseback" -- also turned their weapons against innocent civilians.
The government denies cooperating with the Janjaweed, but many of the displaced report that their villages were attacked by a combination of government aircraft and helicopter gunships and hordes of Janjaweed fighters.
"The combination seems to have not been totally by coincidence," Mide told Catholic News Service.
"This is a conflict over resources, and it's obvious that the government is taking sides. It wants the resources to go more to one side of the conflict than the other," Mide said.
The International Criminal Court said in June it had enough evidence to try alleged perpetrators of war crimes in Darfur, despite Khartoum's announced refusal to hand over suspects, including high-ranking government officials.
Although their first priority is responding to the dramatic humanitarian needs, relief agencies also are searching for ways they can contribute to long-term peace and stability. While they drill wells to provide more water for a while, many relief workers nurture a longer-term vision of development for this isolated region.
Patrick Musibi, the ACT/Caritas field coordinator in Zalingei, said all the stakeholders in the Darfur conflict need to unite against a common enemy: the encroaching Sahara Desert.
"The desert keeps coming south, eating up the arable land. To make peace we need an aggressive agroforestry program. We need to plant specific trees that will help rehabilitate depleted soils, and if we do that enough we can stop the Sahara in its tracks and start pushing it back, creating more arable land. Then people won't have to fight over resources," he said.
"People need to understand that they have a common enemy against which they should unite, rather than continuing to fight each other. Otherwise they may be victorious, but what they'll conquer won't be able to sustain even their own communities," Musibi said.
Relief agencies must begin to deconstruct the problems that created the emergency, Musibi said.
"We need to help people find some breathing space. Then they must ask themselves the question, 'Why did this happen?' And then we need to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he said.
Musibi said the ACT/Caritas program staff is engaged in an initial dialogue with some Arab nomad communities. A majority of people who had supported the Janjaweed were misled by "criminal elements who are seated somewhere else but take advantage of the chaos here," Musibi said.
"The concept of Janjaweed has been used a bit like a blanket. Anybody with a horse or a camel is considered a Janjaweed by some. But the majority of them have been misled; they've been convinced that their survival is at stake and if they don't kill the other people that they themselves will be killed," he said.
"If you can get through to them and convince them they've been lied to, they can change," he added.
The relief community also must commit itself to remaining in Darfur for a long time to foster reconciliation and contribute to long-term economic development that will help people coexist peacefully, Musibi said.
"All is not lost. The crisis in Darfur can be solved. People can be brought back together and be helped to rebuild their lives," he said.
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 شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 08:02 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 08:15 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 08:29 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 08:30 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 08:30 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | عدلان أحمد عبدالعزيز | 08-20-07, 09:01 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-20-07, 10:34 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Mohamed Suleiman | 08-20-07, 11:25 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 08:21 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 10:11 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 10:39 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 11:05 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | humida | 08-21-07, 11:10 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 11:13 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | humida | 08-21-07, 11:29 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 12:07 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 01:43 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 02:44 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | تاج الدين عبدالله آدم | 08-21-07, 03:06 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-21-07, 07:13 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Abdelmuhsin Said | 08-21-07, 08:01 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | محمدين محمد اسحق | 08-22-07, 00:07 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-22-07, 09:00 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-22-07, 08:16 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-22-07, 09:03 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-22-07, 01:54 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-22-07, 05:34 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | تاج الدين عبدالله آدم | 08-22-07, 05:52 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-23-07, 08:29 AM |
 Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | ajaj | 08-23-07, 09:11 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-23-07, 02:44 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | تاج الدين عبدالله آدم | 08-23-07, 09:57 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-23-07, 08:47 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Abdelmuhsin Said | 08-24-07, 07:39 AM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-24-07, 03:41 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Frankly | 08-25-07, 01:20 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Mohamed Suleiman | 08-25-07, 03:26 PM |
| Re: شـــكراً شـــباب كــندا لتنويركم العالــــم بمأسـاة دارفــــور | Abdelmuhsin Said | 08-27-07, 01:25 AM |
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