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FROM THE FIELD

As insecurity continues, a concern that the 'Darfur problem' is broader than Sudan
18 Jul 2008 02:12:00 GMT
 Source: Church World Service-USA
By Chris Herlinger/Church World Service

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A woman prepares the ground for planting in the Habile Camp for internally displaced Chadians, outside the village Koukou Angarana.
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A woman prepares the ground for planting in the Habile Camp for internally displaced Chadians, outside the village Koukou Angarana.
Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT-CWS

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July 15, 2008

This is the first of a series of stories on the CWS-supported LWF-ACT response in eastern Chad, accompanied by photographs by Paul Jeffrey.

KOUKOU ANGARANA, CHAD-- Recent security concerns in the wake of rebel movements in eastern Chad have caused some organizations to evacuate staff, which included the temporary suspension of activities last month by the CWS-supported Lutheran World Federation-ACT International program here.

But the week-long LWF suspension, from June 15-22, has since been lifted, and normal humanitarian activities have resumed, reports Diallo Mbemba, LWF site manager based in Koukou Angarana. "All is well in Koukou and in our sites," reported another LWF staff person in light of the recent attacks near Kerfi.

LWF is the lead coordinator overseeing the Habile and Aradib camps for the displaced near the town of Koukou Angarana. The two camps have a combined population of about 45,000 residents.

Security concerns are a fact of life for both the humanitarian workers and those living in the camps, and all parties try to make the best of challenging situations in eastern Chad --site of some of the most difficult working conditions facing humanitarian agencies today.

In recent interviews here and in the capital of N'Djamena some of the LWF staff expressed frustration that the situation in eastern Chad, particularly the plight of Chad's internally displaced, has been overshadowed by the situation in neighboring Darfur, Sudan.

While LWF staff members do not underplay the dire nature of the situation in Darfur, they argue--often passionately--that the humanitarian situations in Chad and Sudan are inexorably linked and that the international community needs to pay attention to the situation within Chad itself.

"The 'Darfur problem' is broader than Darfur," said Jaap Aantjes, who served as LWF country director in Chad until late May. "It's a regional problem."

"You can't look only at the 'center' (Darfur itself)," he said. "You also have to respond at the edges, not just in the center."

The most recent concern over security--caused by attacks on non-governmental organization staff and compounds in Kerfi near Goz Beida--highlights one of the problems here.

"The wider Darfur area is one of the most dangerous areas in the world," said Aantjes. "We are obsessed with security."

But prudence has not meant abandoning Chad. Maintaining a program here, Aantjes said, "is important, given the commitment to do something for the people of Chad and given the dire needs here. That is an important motivation: helping people in even a small way."

That is vital, he said, because "the poverty is flagrant" both in Chad as a whole and among the displaced who now crowd into camps like Habile and Aradib.

LWF-ACT work in the camps includes water projects, the distribution of both food and non-food items and the development of much-needed psychosocial work among survivors of trauma and sexual violence, said Esther T. Isaac, psychosocial coordinator for the LWF-ACT eastern Chad program.

Isaac, a native of Sierra Leone, says psychosocial work is about "mind, soul and body," both individually and in the social setting. "You have to react with the community," she said of overcoming the experience of violence and trauma. "It's a community issue."

All of what she and other LWF staff try to do here is recognize that "we are dealing with people who need to live with dignity and respect."

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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