Panel #4A
"Conflicts & Humaintarian Aid"
Current Disease Control Programs in Sudan and the Cross Border Issues
Charles D Mackenzie, Magdi M Ali and Mamoun
Homeida.
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA &
The Academy of Medical Sciences, Khartoum, Sudan.
Sudan is a country which has historically suffered from
the most devastating of tropical infections. The geography, the various
environmental stresses such as drought, weather extremes, together with
the poor health infrastructure that has resulted from many years of civil
disturbance and economic hardships, have led to the occurrence and persistence
of some of the most devastating epidemic of disease known to Africa. Nevertheless,
over the past ten years concerted efforts to implement control programs
for at least three major tropical infections - river blindness, trachoma
and lymphatic filariasis, have had a major positive effect on redeveloping
health services for the most severely affected group of Sudanese, those
in the rural areas.
This paper will review these programs, the effect
they have in rebuilding health infrastructure in depressed and ignored areas
of Sudan, including those areas under war conditions. The role of cross
border migration as well as intra-country migration due to the civil disturbances
will be documented and discussed.
Health is a most important component to a community's
survival and is thus a central factor in rebuilding and developing those
areas of Sudan that are in great need. A plan for the involvement of health
programs in the near future as Sudan redevelops will be presented and its
relationship to similar program in bordering countries discussed. The need
to integrate health programs with other components of development, such as
external aid programs, NGDOs, agriculture, community development and the
like.
Political Ramifications of Humanitarian Aid in the Hameshkoreb Area,
200-2002
Michael Medley
University of Leeds, UK
The Hameshkoreb area of eastern Sudan, adjoining the Eritrean border north
of Kassala, has, since the mid-1990s, been the scene of insurgency by several
opposition parties and movements grouped in the National Democratic Alliance.
In the late 1990s any humanitarian assistance to the people of the opposition-held
territory was channeled by organizations closely linked to the rebel forces.
In 2000 an international aid agency – the International Rescue Committee
(IRC) – began establishing operation in the area. Although officially impartial
in Sudan's civil war, IRC's work had political ramifications at a number
of levels. This paper, written by a student of aid ethics, who was
IRC's manager for this program, attempts to analyze the motives and various
effects of the cross-border aid activities here, relating them to an ongoing
debate about the tenability of the concept of humanitarian neutrality. The
paper casts some light on the nature of the NDA and on its interaction with
the social and religious movement centered on Sheikh Suleiman Beitay. It
suggests tentative conclusions related to the wider problems of governance
and the meaning of democracy in Sudan.
“Sudan and the Question of Humanitarian Intervention”
Peter Penz
Centre for Refugee Studies, Environmental Studies
York University, Canada
This paper reports on a case study of Sudan within a larger team project
on ethics and international intervention. The research is on-going
and the paper will be as a report on work in progress.
Sudan is striking as a case in which a massive number of deaths has occurred
as a result of the civil wars since independence. Moreover, the civil
wars have been associated with extensive atrocities. Sudan contrasts
sharply with cases where intervention has occurred (e.g. the former Yugoslavia
and Iraq if the focus is on “liberation”) and cases where intervention did
not occur or was withdrawn before the basic mission was carried out, but
are now seen to represent failures on the part of the international community
(Somalia and Rwanda). Sudan has neither experienced humanitarian intervention
(although it has experienced sanctions related to terrorism) nor is it widely
viewed as an intervention failure of the international community.
Against this background, the paper will (1) present theoretical reflections
on humanitarian intervention, (2) review developments in Sudan in relation
to criteria for humanitarian intervention, and (3) make some preliminary
observations concerning the ethical perspectives of different lobbying positions
concerning intervention in Sudan. The concern here is not with what
should be done now, but with what would have been ethically appropriate
action on the part of the international community in previous years or would
be in the eventuality that the current peace process collapses and armed
conflict re-emerges.
The Impact of Sudanese Civil War on the Beja of Eastern Sudan
M. Suleiman Salih Derar (Independent Scholar & Amna Salih Derar
(AlHfad University)
Introduction: Eastern Sudan is known as an arid area that is difficult
to live in except for its people who are known through centuries as Beja.
The Beja are nomadic tribes that depend on husbandry and few of them earn
their living through farming in the main fertilized area in Gash and Baraka
seasonable rivers, in addition to the sea shore area where due to rain they
can cultivate the maize. Within this very difficult environment, the Beja
succeeded in living through centuries (here you have to give information
about the area size and major tribes and kind of life. I do not think we
should mention the refugees and that they have been part of the people or
affect the grazing as we will discuss then a big and complicated issue and
very difficult to proof and analyse it in short period in addition they may
make use of it against Beja).
Statement of the problem: The Beja migration to other places outside their
area is very rare even during the 1983-85 draught they continued in living
in their areas. This intimate relation with their land has its effect on their
culture as they prefer to continue living in their areas despite the environmental
difficulties. But recently and in the last decade, the Beja found themselves
forced to leave their land. This came due to the government's policies and
practices towards them. Within this unfavourable environment the Beja problem
exist. In specific we will discuss, analyse the existing problem which resulted
from the civil war which has been spread from the south to the western and
eastern Sudan. The people in these areas came to know and get the ability
to recognize that they have been marginalized by the different governments
and this came to its acme during the existing Islamic fundamental rule. The
problem of the Beja came to a new face and phase when due to the war
thousands of them have been forced to leave their villages and places. This
forced migration to new areas made them displaced at the edge of small and
big towns. Having new areas to live in without having the tools of living
in those areas, their affected this tribe heavily and this have been reflected
in their health, culture, way of living. It is because of the marginalization
and war that the Beja came to lose their lives and identity gradually.
Importance of the study: The study will throw light on Beja of the eastern Sudan
and how they have been marginalized despite that they are one of the indigenous
groups that have been existed in Sudan for thousands of years. The study will
show the origin of this group and their relations with other groups that exist
thorugh centuries specially as their area is broader by the Red Sea. The study
will investigate how they earn their living and how their culture affect on that
will be assessed. Moreover, the study will clarify how through using different
tools, they are forced to move from semi desert to the desert so that governors
could make use of their land without any sort of interference from human tights
organizations and international pressure groups.
The Effects of Migration on the “Traditional” Economies of Chad
Stephanie E Santos
PhD Candidate
Indiana University
The country of Chad has been recovering from a long and arduous civil war
for the past decade or so. With the advent of a stable peace, many Chadians
now have the option of returning to their homes. However, many have chosen to
remain in the communities they fled to during the war, which has altered the
economic, as well as ethnic, landscape of many such communities. While some
have retained the traditional means of subsistence, others have adapted methods
of farming and pastoralism used by non-Chadians in their adopted communities.
This paper seeks to explore the various economic coping mechanisms employed
by people from Chad in other countries. While the paper looks specifically at
the case of Niger (as this is where the author conducts her research) other
examples will be brought out as well. Furthermore, this paper seeks to explore
how various ethnic groups in Chad have responded culturally to being uprooted,
and their choice to either integrate into their adopted community or remain
separate.