Darfur - Day 3

The Road To Darfur (and back again)
a travel journey with documentary filmmaker Chip Duncan

Please note that any opinions expressed in this blog are those of Chip Duncan and do not represent any other organizations or individuals. Darfur is a place of constant change and any statistical references are approximate and may change rapidly. If you are reading this after January, 2008, please verify any information with up-to-date and verifiable resources.

Day 3 – January 3rd, 2008 – We’d been told in advance that getting to and from Darfur involved significant paperwork, permits and government approvals. Day three begins with a visit to a photo shop for more mugs shots of yours truly. Everything, it seems, requires identification and stamped approvals. Though there are computers here and while the guest house in Khartoum has a fast internet line, most government related activities still involve carbon copies and ink stamps, a common feature throughout much of the world.

Permissions are being sought for our final travel arrangements to Darfur and for use of cameras. In addition to the sizable bond we’ve put down with customs officials, we pay additional funds to secure “camera permits.” We soon have the right to take pictures, albeit under limited circumstances outlined on our permits. I’ve paid for permits many times before (including $8000.00 for a permit in Bhutan!) and for the government I’m sure there’s a dance between revenues and security. Since Sudan pretty much lacks a tourism industry, there’s little motivation for publicity.

We also make a trip to the US Embassy to register as Americans. It’s not something I generally do; however, the importance of it has been stressed due to the diplomat slaying that preceded our arrival. The embassy is located in the center part of the city and, as one would imagine, security around it is extremely tight. The roads are closed more than a block in every direction. We walk to the gate and find out that the embassy is closed and will not open again until Saturday. It’s not a holy day but we’re told it’s closed anyway. The Sudanese guard at the door does not tell us why.

After lunch at a western style restaurant near the airport (I ordered the mixed grill which included lamb sausages, lamb kebab and rice as well as a mango shake that was fantastic), we began our scheduled afternoon briefing. It was during the briefing that we were filled in on our general itinerary in Darfur as well as the types of humanitarian work being done there by Relief International. The briefing is a who’s who and what’s what of staff, maps, logistics and security concerns in the field.

It’s worth noting that:

1. Sudan is the largest country in Africa and the 10th largest in the world.

2. Darfur is roughly the size of France or about 25% the size of the continental United States.

3. There are three distinct regions in Darfur – North, West, and South.

We would be spending our time in North Darfur featuring humanitarian work in camps for displaced people in and around the cities of El Fashar and Kabkabiya.

While the politics of the region are significant and difficult to comprehend, I’ll leave that to a different writer. The resources online are many for those inclined to do their homework. Suffice it to say that the area is involved in a significant crisis that has left as many as two million people displaced from their homes. Many more have been relocated in camps just beyond the western border with Chad.

From what I could gather, there are as many as 15 separate factions involved in the fighting in Darfur. At roughly the time of our arrival, a hybrid involving the United Nations and the African Union forces was taking shape with an estimated 26,000 soldiers scheduled to arrive within weeks.

For our purposes, we would be visiting IDP camps (that is, temporary housing for internally displaced people) near El Fashar and Kabkabiya. There are three IDP camps near El Fashar including Al Salam, Abu Shouk and Zam Zam and several others further south. Each camp houses between 40,000 to 50,000 people. Relief International (RI.org) provides humanitarian assistance and medical care in Zam Zam. They also administer sustainable livelihood programs near Kabkabiya. More on that later in the journey …

The weather, we’re told, is at its best during our visit. It’s not the rainy season and relatively speaking, it’s cool. Days will be around 80-85 and nights will range from about 60-70. In addition, malaria risk is low during our visit. That said, both Bob and I are taking a daily medication called malarone.

Following the briefing, we catch up on sleep (especially overcoming jet lag – there’s a 9 hour time difference between Khartoum and Chicago).

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Thanks for following along on The Road To Darfur. Please visit tomorrow for Day 4. If you have questions or thoughts, please feel free to email me at this blog site. You can also visit the website for Relief International (RI.org) for more information on humanitarian work in Darfur and ways you can help.