Ten years after the Darfur crisis began, refugees say they still can’t return home

“Refugees tell us that they have no homes to return to and will only go back when there is real peace and security,” says Felix Leger, who oversees the International Rescue Committee’s humanitarian aid programs in Chad.

 

The conflict in Darfur started in late February 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government of Sudan, accusing it of neglect and oppression of non-Arab Sudanese. Government forces and allied militias responded with brutal force.  According to UN estimates, more than 300,000 Darfuris were killed and some 2.8 million displaced in the spiraling violence and humanitarian crisis that ensued for years. While the conflict has significantly ebbed, insecurity continues to plague Darfur, including a spike in inter-tribal fighting in the past month that triggered new displacement. 

 

“I can’t go back for the same reasons that made me flee. The problems are still there,” says Maka Souliman Youssif, who fled her village in Darfur more than nine years ago and today, teaches at a refugee school in Oure Cassoni Camp in northeastern Chad. “Where I am from there is nothing there. Everything was burned down.”

 

Osman Imam Osman, also living at Oure Cassoni Camp, says he wants to go home, but not until fighting stops and services are restored. “In Darfur and here, people are still displaced and can’t go back to their villages,” he told the IRC earlier this month. “Security is still very bad, even just across the border not too far from here. If security is good and the development is better, yes, of course I would go back. But the peace needs to be kept.”

 

While refugees in Chad remain dependent on humanitarian aid for survival, donor attention is gradually fading and resources have shifted to other pressing crises, like those in Syria and Mali.  

 

The IRC runs schools, health centers and water and sanitation programs in three of the 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad.  But a 15% funding cut in 2012 and 25% in 2013 has forced the IRC and other aid organizations to downsize. For the IRC’s part, it has had to shutter its secondary schools for refugee youth, reduce by nearly half the number of teachers in its pre-school and primary schools and scale back community health and hygiene promotion activities. 

 

“It’s critical that the governments of Chad and Sudan continue their dialogue and find solutions for the safe return of refugees,” says Leger.  “It would be a tragedy if we’re all still here marking the 20th anniversary of the Darfur conflict. At the same time, donors who have been generous in their assistance these past 10 years must not forget the Darfuri refugees. Their basic needs must be covered for as long as they stay in Chad. Further cut backs will only make their lives more precarious in the future.”

 

About the International Rescue Committee: A global leader in humanitarian assistance, the International Rescue Committee works in more than 40 countries offering help and hope to refugees and others uprooted by disaster, conflict and oppression. During crises, IRC teams provide health care, shelter, clean water, sanitation, learning programs for children and special aid for women. As emergencies subside, the IRC stays to revive livelihoods and help shattered communities recover and rebuild. The IRC also helps resettle refugees given sanctuary in the United States. A tireless advocate for the most vulnerable, the IRC is committed to restoring hope, dignity and opportunity.

 

The IRC has been working in eastern Chad since 2004. Today the organization aids 84,000 Darfuri refugees in three camps and offers services to 33,000 Chadians living nearby. The IRC also provides free emergency health and nutrition care to 120,000 children, pregnant women and new mothers in western and central Chad.  For more information visit, http://www.rescue.org/darfur-crisis-10-years .