Refugees
On Saturday, I am going to the daily free 6pm performance at the Kennedy Center. Suheir Hammad, the performer, is a Def Poetry Jam alumna, poet, author, director, and activist from Brooklyn. Well, she was born in Jordan and moved to Brooklyn when she was five. Her parents are refugees from Palestine. I've been watching her stuff (and getting super-psyched! Two of my favorite things- peace advocacy and poetry, together!), and this piece called "Refugees" seems particularly relevant. I really enjoy it:
I say it's relevant because it's been a bad week for refugees.
In South Africa, they've just closed a refugee camp near the border of Zimbabwe. A spokeswoman from Doctors Without Borders said:
"Out of nowhere and with no explanation whatsoever the department of home affairs basically is forcing a closure of the only place in Musina where Zimbabweans are safe from arrest and deportation.
"Pregnant women, women with children and unaccompanied minors were removed from the location last night and as far as we know have nowhere to go."
The BBC article is here.
In Sudan, conditions are even worse. In reaction to the International Criminal Court's warrant for his arrest for war crimes, President al-Bashir is kicking out 13 of the biggest aid groups in the country (which accounts for almost half of aid). Al-Bashir is blaming aid group's for involvement with the ICC, and it seems like the whole environment is growing even more hostile for the remaining aid groups. I'm a huge advocate for the safest conditions possible for humanitarian workers*, but who really loses out are the people who live in the camps, who rely on that aid. I like this excerpt from an AP article because it portrays the problem of people already living in the camps trying to take care of new arrivals-- these camps don't just disappear when the international aid workers leave, and they've still got to try the best they can to help each other survive.
The picture at the Zamzam Camp grew even bleaker Thursday when no aid workers showed up, leaving residents to figure out how they would get life sustaining goods from sorghum seeds to running water and tents for the influx of new refugees.
"We are very concerned," said Ibrahim Safi, 34, one of 75,000 residents at the camp. "After God, we only have the organizations."
I guess, really, every week is a bad week for refugees.
BBC and AP articles below:
SA shuts Zimbabwe refugees' camp
Thousands of Zimbabwean refugees are stranded after authorities in South Africa moved to shut a camp sheltering them in the border town of Musina.
The refugees had fled a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe and many hoped to seek political asylum in South Africa.
The government said the refugees would be transferred to a military base, but aid officials criticised the move.
Hollywood star Matt Damon, who has just toured the camp at Musina, described the "sub-human" conditions there.
Millions of Zimbabweans have fled their country's political, economic and humanitarian crisis, with many coming to neighbouring South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse.
The outdoor refugee camp at the Musina municipal showground is home to up to 4,000 refugees, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
South African home affairs spokeswoman Siobhan McCarthy told AFP news agency the camp, which lies a few kilometres south of the Zimbabwe border, would be closed by Friday, saying it did not provide for the refugees' needs.
"The showground is simply not designed for people to live," she said.
"There is no water, there is no ablution facilities, there's nothing there, so people cannot live there. It has already become very unhygienic."
The official's comments about the dire conditions in the camp were confirmed by Damon.
The star of the Bourne thrillers is a founder, with other celebrities such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney, of human rights organisation Not On Our Watch.
He told the BBC's Newshour programme: "They arrive to live in these conditions that are really sub-human, they're not permitted to put up any permanent structures.
"So they're basically sleeping out under the open sky and, again, still choose not to go back to Zimbabwe."
But MSF said the asylum-seekers should have been offered humanitarian and medical support.
MSF's Rachel Cohen told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "Out of nowhere and with no explanation whatsoever the department of home affairs basically is forcing a closure of the only place in Musina where Zimbabweans are safe from arrest and deportation.
"Pregnant women, women with children and unaccompanied minors were removed from the location last night and as far as we know have nowhere to go."
Zimbabwe is in the grips of a cholera epidemic which has killed nearly 4,000 people and infected almost 87,000, as health services disintegrate amid the country's economic collapse.
Darfur: fears of crisis if aid agencies leave
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Even before Sudan's president expelled aid groups from Darfur following an international warrant seeking his arrest, diarrhea was spreading among newcomers at one of its largest refugee camps and people waited hours in line for water.
The picture at the Zamzam Camp grew even bleaker Thursday when no aid workers showed up, leaving residents to figure out how they would get life sustaining goods from sorghum seeds to running water and tents for the influx of new refugees.
"We are very concerned," said Ibrahim Safi, 34, one of 75,000 residents at the camp. "After God, we only have the organizations."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that Sudan's expulsion of 13 major aid organizations will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and called on the government to urgently reconsider its decision.
Catherine Bragg, the U.N.'s deputy emergency relief coordinator, said the organizations are responsible for "at least half" of the humanitarian operations in Darfur and are vital partners for U.N. agencies in delivering food, providing health care, water, education and other services.
"With the loss of these NGOs, 1.1 million people will be without food aid, 1.1 million will be without health care, and over 1 million will be without potable water," she said.
In his first comments since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant Wednesday charging him with war crimes in Darfur, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir defiantly accused the tribunal, the U.N. and the aid organizations of being part of a new "colonialism" that wants to destabilize his country.
Al-Bashir said the aid organizations were trying to disrupt peace efforts in Darfur, profiting from the conflict and interfering with foreign investment.
The head of the government agency that oversees Sudan's humanitarian affairs, Hasabo Abdel Rahman, also directly accused the expelled aid groups of cooperating with the ICC and giving the court "false" testimony.
The non-governmental aid groups, which include CARE International, Oxfam GB and Mercy Corps, have denied any involvement with the ICC. But experts had warned of possible repercussions against the groups if the arrest warrant was ordered.
Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert and professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, said the decision to expel so many aid groups was "without precedent" - but not surprising. Harassment of aid groups and denial of access to Darfur were common practices by the Khartoum government before the decision, he said.
But, he said, there were also risks to allowing the status quo to prevail in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have died in the fighting, which pits ethnic African rebels against the Arab-led Khartoum government and Arab militiamen.
Sudan's oil reserves, estimated by some to be in the range of 6.5 billion barrels, have played a central role in the conflicts that have dogged the country for decades. A large portion of the reserves are located along the disputed borders between north and south, fueling that civil war for two decades.
A 2005 comprehensive peace agreement ended that fight, but it failed to include other marginalized communities and regions in Sudan, helping fuel the conflict in Darfur.
The ICC arrest warrant further complicates an already difficult situation in the country. Analysts say that the fallout from the indictment could also spill over into implementation of the north-south peace agreement, leading to even more difficulties in the beleaguered nation.
"Should that agreement fall apart, you could have a crisis that will ultimately dwarf what has happened in Darfur," said Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
At least 2.7 million have been forced from their homes by the fighting since 2003, with the majority of them living in refugee camps in Darfur.
Most of the expelled aid groups were told by the Sudanese government that their operating licenses were revoked after the ICC issued the warrant. Three others, including the French branch of Medicins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it was ordered to stop working on Thursday.
Abdel Rahman warned that more could be kicked out if the government believes they violated the law.
The groups have more than 30 different projects in Darfur, mainly involving the distribution of food staples like sorghum, primary medical care, clean water and sanitation services. The groups' programs are not being affected in southern Sudan, a semiautonomous region with its own government.
MSF says more than 200,000 Darfurians are now without access to essential medical care because its operations have ceased in some areas of the vast, western Sudanese region. The order came at a time during a meningitis outbreak in Kalma Camp, in southern Darfur that is home to 90,000 people.
CARE International said its 650 employees in Sudan, a majority of who are Sudanese, had to stop working after Sudan revoked its license after 28 years of working in the African country. The aid group had been helping about 600,000 people in parts of Darfur with food distribution and water.
"The impact is going to be huge. ... For us the main concern is what is going to happen to the people who we were providing assistance to?" said Bea Spadacini, a spokeswoman for CARE based in Kenya.
Rahman said there are 2,600 local Sudanese groups that can fill the void left by the international aid groups.
But Bragg said while the U.N. was looking into contingency plans, "it will be extremely challenging for the remaining humanitarian organizations and the government of Sudan to fill the operating gap."
In Washington, White House officials met with Darfur aid groups Thursday night and to hear their concerns over the expulsions, Acting Deputy Spokesman Gordon Duguid said. "The officials explained U.S. efforts to get the government of Sudan to reconsider its decision."
Back in Zamzam Camp, Safi said he fears all aid groups will be kicked out. His cramped camp just received more than 26,000 new residents who flooded in from the region after fighting in south Darfur, and the influx has already stretched water resources and living facilities.
"I don't want to be repressed twice, first from al-Bashir and then the ICC. ... Who is benefiting in both cases? We are the ones losing," he said.
*which is why I was outraged to learn that the operation to free the FARC hostages included posing as an aid group to gain the rebels' trust. Aid groups NEED the rebels' trust for their own safety and for access to the hostages, whose health they supervise. They have it tough enough without the rebels being paranoid that they're secretly government agents!
Click to viewI say it's relevant because it's been a bad week for refugees.
In South Africa, they've just closed a refugee camp near the border of Zimbabwe. A spokeswoman from Doctors Without Borders said:
"Out of nowhere and with no explanation whatsoever the department of home affairs basically is forcing a closure of the only place in Musina where Zimbabweans are safe from arrest and deportation.
"Pregnant women, women with children and unaccompanied minors were removed from the location last night and as far as we know have nowhere to go."
The BBC article is here.
In Sudan, conditions are even worse. In reaction to the International Criminal Court's warrant for his arrest for war crimes, President al-Bashir is kicking out 13 of the biggest aid groups in the country (which accounts for almost half of aid). Al-Bashir is blaming aid group's for involvement with the ICC, and it seems like the whole environment is growing even more hostile for the remaining aid groups. I'm a huge advocate for the safest conditions possible for humanitarian workers*, but who really loses out are the people who live in the camps, who rely on that aid. I like this excerpt from an AP article because it portrays the problem of people already living in the camps trying to take care of new arrivals-- these camps don't just disappear when the international aid workers leave, and they've still got to try the best they can to help each other survive.
The picture at the Zamzam Camp grew even bleaker Thursday when no aid workers showed up, leaving residents to figure out how they would get life sustaining goods from sorghum seeds to running water and tents for the influx of new refugees.
"We are very concerned," said Ibrahim Safi, 34, one of 75,000 residents at the camp. "After God, we only have the organizations."
I guess, really, every week is a bad week for refugees.
BBC and AP articles below:
SA shuts Zimbabwe refugees' camp
Thousands of Zimbabwean refugees are stranded after authorities in South Africa moved to shut a camp sheltering them in the border town of Musina.
The refugees had fled a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe and many hoped to seek political asylum in South Africa.
The government said the refugees would be transferred to a military base, but aid officials criticised the move.
Hollywood star Matt Damon, who has just toured the camp at Musina, described the "sub-human" conditions there.
Millions of Zimbabweans have fled their country's political, economic and humanitarian crisis, with many coming to neighbouring South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse.
The outdoor refugee camp at the Musina municipal showground is home to up to 4,000 refugees, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
South African home affairs spokeswoman Siobhan McCarthy told AFP news agency the camp, which lies a few kilometres south of the Zimbabwe border, would be closed by Friday, saying it did not provide for the refugees' needs.
"The showground is simply not designed for people to live," she said.
"There is no water, there is no ablution facilities, there's nothing there, so people cannot live there. It has already become very unhygienic."
The official's comments about the dire conditions in the camp were confirmed by Damon.
The star of the Bourne thrillers is a founder, with other celebrities such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney, of human rights organisation Not On Our Watch.
He told the BBC's Newshour programme: "They arrive to live in these conditions that are really sub-human, they're not permitted to put up any permanent structures.
"So they're basically sleeping out under the open sky and, again, still choose not to go back to Zimbabwe."
But MSF said the asylum-seekers should have been offered humanitarian and medical support.
MSF's Rachel Cohen told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "Out of nowhere and with no explanation whatsoever the department of home affairs basically is forcing a closure of the only place in Musina where Zimbabweans are safe from arrest and deportation.
"Pregnant women, women with children and unaccompanied minors were removed from the location last night and as far as we know have nowhere to go."
Zimbabwe is in the grips of a cholera epidemic which has killed nearly 4,000 people and infected almost 87,000, as health services disintegrate amid the country's economic collapse.
Darfur: fears of crisis if aid agencies leave
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Even before Sudan's president expelled aid groups from Darfur following an international warrant seeking his arrest, diarrhea was spreading among newcomers at one of its largest refugee camps and people waited hours in line for water.
The picture at the Zamzam Camp grew even bleaker Thursday when no aid workers showed up, leaving residents to figure out how they would get life sustaining goods from sorghum seeds to running water and tents for the influx of new refugees.
"We are very concerned," said Ibrahim Safi, 34, one of 75,000 residents at the camp. "After God, we only have the organizations."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that Sudan's expulsion of 13 major aid organizations will cause "irrevocable damage" to humanitarian operations in Darfur and called on the government to urgently reconsider its decision.
Catherine Bragg, the U.N.'s deputy emergency relief coordinator, said the organizations are responsible for "at least half" of the humanitarian operations in Darfur and are vital partners for U.N. agencies in delivering food, providing health care, water, education and other services.
"With the loss of these NGOs, 1.1 million people will be without food aid, 1.1 million will be without health care, and over 1 million will be without potable water," she said.
In his first comments since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant Wednesday charging him with war crimes in Darfur, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir defiantly accused the tribunal, the U.N. and the aid organizations of being part of a new "colonialism" that wants to destabilize his country.
Al-Bashir said the aid organizations were trying to disrupt peace efforts in Darfur, profiting from the conflict and interfering with foreign investment.
The head of the government agency that oversees Sudan's humanitarian affairs, Hasabo Abdel Rahman, also directly accused the expelled aid groups of cooperating with the ICC and giving the court "false" testimony.
The non-governmental aid groups, which include CARE International, Oxfam GB and Mercy Corps, have denied any involvement with the ICC. But experts had warned of possible repercussions against the groups if the arrest warrant was ordered.
Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert and professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, said the decision to expel so many aid groups was "without precedent" - but not surprising. Harassment of aid groups and denial of access to Darfur were common practices by the Khartoum government before the decision, he said.
But, he said, there were also risks to allowing the status quo to prevail in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have died in the fighting, which pits ethnic African rebels against the Arab-led Khartoum government and Arab militiamen.
Sudan's oil reserves, estimated by some to be in the range of 6.5 billion barrels, have played a central role in the conflicts that have dogged the country for decades. A large portion of the reserves are located along the disputed borders between north and south, fueling that civil war for two decades.
A 2005 comprehensive peace agreement ended that fight, but it failed to include other marginalized communities and regions in Sudan, helping fuel the conflict in Darfur.
The ICC arrest warrant further complicates an already difficult situation in the country. Analysts say that the fallout from the indictment could also spill over into implementation of the north-south peace agreement, leading to even more difficulties in the beleaguered nation.
"Should that agreement fall apart, you could have a crisis that will ultimately dwarf what has happened in Darfur," said Jennifer Cooke, head of the Africa program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
At least 2.7 million have been forced from their homes by the fighting since 2003, with the majority of them living in refugee camps in Darfur.
Most of the expelled aid groups were told by the Sudanese government that their operating licenses were revoked after the ICC issued the warrant. Three others, including the French branch of Medicins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said it was ordered to stop working on Thursday.
Abdel Rahman warned that more could be kicked out if the government believes they violated the law.
The groups have more than 30 different projects in Darfur, mainly involving the distribution of food staples like sorghum, primary medical care, clean water and sanitation services. The groups' programs are not being affected in southern Sudan, a semiautonomous region with its own government.
MSF says more than 200,000 Darfurians are now without access to essential medical care because its operations have ceased in some areas of the vast, western Sudanese region. The order came at a time during a meningitis outbreak in Kalma Camp, in southern Darfur that is home to 90,000 people.
CARE International said its 650 employees in Sudan, a majority of who are Sudanese, had to stop working after Sudan revoked its license after 28 years of working in the African country. The aid group had been helping about 600,000 people in parts of Darfur with food distribution and water.
"The impact is going to be huge. ... For us the main concern is what is going to happen to the people who we were providing assistance to?" said Bea Spadacini, a spokeswoman for CARE based in Kenya.
Rahman said there are 2,600 local Sudanese groups that can fill the void left by the international aid groups.
But Bragg said while the U.N. was looking into contingency plans, "it will be extremely challenging for the remaining humanitarian organizations and the government of Sudan to fill the operating gap."
In Washington, White House officials met with Darfur aid groups Thursday night and to hear their concerns over the expulsions, Acting Deputy Spokesman Gordon Duguid said. "The officials explained U.S. efforts to get the government of Sudan to reconsider its decision."
Back in Zamzam Camp, Safi said he fears all aid groups will be kicked out. His cramped camp just received more than 26,000 new residents who flooded in from the region after fighting in south Darfur, and the influx has already stretched water resources and living facilities.
"I don't want to be repressed twice, first from al-Bashir and then the ICC. ... Who is benefiting in both cases? We are the ones losing," he said.
*which is why I was outraged to learn that the operation to free the FARC hostages included posing as an aid group to gain the rebels' trust. Aid groups NEED the rebels' trust for their own safety and for access to the hostages, whose health they supervise. They have it tough enough without the rebels being paranoid that they're secretly government agents!