In the US:
Since our last project update, we raised $220.80 from donors to our GlobalGiving webpage, after paying GG's fees. Thanks, as always, for your support!
On April 16, 2023 DOHS members will elect the next board of directors! They will have plenty of reasons to keep DOHS going!
In Darfur, Sudan:
DOHS continues to get reports that nearly all displaced persons throughout West Darfur live on streets, in markets and government buildings, are harassed, and lack enough to eat.
Because of the conflict in Foro Baranga, West Darfur (still ongoing as of this writing), a state of emergency was declared by the Acting West Darfur Govenor on Monday, April 10, 2023 (1).
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees' Protection Cluster classifies El Geneina and Kereneik town as being at risk of armed conflict. They estimate that El Geneina could suffer this in the near future, and that repeated or prolonged armed conflict occurs in Kereniek town (2).
And two weeks ago, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published an estimate claiming that 30,000 people were displaced by violence in Tandulti, West Darfur (3).
References:
1) "Revenge attacks shake up Darfur," Radio Dabanga, April 11, 2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/revenge-attacks-shake-up-darfur accessed April 11, 2023.
2) "Protection Hotspots in Sudan, as of 28 February 2023", UNHCR Protection Cluster, https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/protection-hotspots-sudan-28-february-2023 accessed on April 11, 2023.
3) "Sudan: Conflict -Tadulti, West Darfur State, Flash Update No. 1, 27 March 2023," UNOCHA, https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-conflict-tandulti-west-darfur-state-flash-update-no-01-27-march-2023-enar accessed April 11, 2023.
According to page nine of the World Food Programme's Comprehensive Food Security and Vulnerability Assessment for the first quarter of 2022, Kereniek, West Darfur State was one of the most food insecure localites in Sudan (1). On April 22 through April 25, 2022, conflict displaced about 98,000 people, including 19,600 families to sixteen sites in Kereneik town, according to a May 10 report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2).
Several times in 2021, DOHS provided aid to people from Kereneik who were displaced by conflict to El Geneina (3). So after the massive displacement from the conflict in Kereneik Locality last April, we immediately began planning for action.
We fundraised over the next several weeks. During this time, we also received reports from witnesses about the displaced in Kereneik town living out in the open, all their possessions and food gone. About a one toilet per 100 people ratio, with rains becoming heavy at times. About there being no medicine available.
As usual, we raised money through GlobalGiving ($913.20, after GG expenses, since our last distribution in September 2021) and local donations, and in early June, we sent $6448 to Sudan to aid displacded families in Kereneik town. Displaced persons there told us that they wanted food most of all. And after planning with camp leaders and city councelors, our DOHS team drove from El Geneina to Kereneik town on June 19, 2022. On the following two days we provided 427 displaced families there with millet, one of the most important crops in Sudan.
In July, we sent our registration application to the West Darfur State government. We currently have a temporary pass for use while they consider our paperwork. We now are also registered with the federal government's Humanitarian Aid Commission. We even have a new logo.
On July 21, the Displacement Tracking Matrix reported that 24,586 displaced people are still in Kereneik town (4). 83,049 displaced persons are sheltering in El Geneina and surrounding villages, according to an August 7 Displacement Tracking Matrix report (5). On August 14, UNOCHA reported about 460,000 Sudanese were expected to be affected by flooding, up from an average of 388,600 people for each year from 2017 to 2021 (6).
References
1) https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-comprehensive-food-security-and-vulnerability-assessment-cfsva-summary-report-q1-2022-june-2022
2) https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-inter-communal-conflict-kereneik-ag-geneina-west-darfur-flash-update-no-04-9-may
3) see past progress reports for this project on this webpage.
4) https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/iom-sudan-displacement-tracking-matrix-kereneik-kereneik-town-west-darfur-update-9-21-july-2022
5) https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/iom-sudan-displacement-tracking-matrix-emergency-event-tracking-ag-geneina-west-darfur-update-29-7-august-2022
6) https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan
From December 18, 2021 to April 15, 2022, we have received $198.60 from fundraising on our GlobalGiving webpage for this project. We also have a new monthly donor. We plan to have a fund-drive in May for our next distribution, so watch our webpage for this project for the latest total.
In order to set up an office in El Geneina, we have updated our bylaws, chosen a translator, and secured at no cost a property in the city. Once the necessary documents are translated into Arabic, we will submit them to the West Darfur government.
Our staff there continue to receive calls from internally displaced persons in the greater El Geneina area, and make note of their requests and place them on the list for our next distribution. Our next distribution, if all goes well, will be sometime in May or June. The most common requests so far have been for food, blankets and clothes, and we plan to give out whichever of these your donations will buy the most of. As always, purchases will be from local businesses, to save on transportation costs and to support the local economy. We have also received requests for schoolbooks and pencils.
According to the Displacement Tracking Matrix of the International Organization for Migration, as of April 4, 2022 there were 95,872 Internally Displaced Persons in El Geneina and surrounding villages, with all of these staying in schools or other public buildings (1). This total includes people displaced in the central West Darfur area from January 16, 2021 to April 4, 2022 (ibid). Millions currently need humanitarian aid in Sudan, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ SUDAN: Humanitarian Key Messages (April 2022):
“Conflict, the economic crisis, food insecurity, flooding, and disease outbreaks continue to be the main drivers of humanitarian needs in Sudan. 14.3 million people need humanitarian assistance, according to the 2022 Sudan Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO). This includes 9.3 million vulnerable residents, 2.9 million IDPs, 1.16 million refugees, and 940,000 returnees. The majority of people in need are women and girls - 8.2 million or 57 per cent, while more than half of people in need are children (7.8 million or 55 per cent). Humanitarian partners plan to reach 9.1 million people with lifesaving and 10.7 million people with life-sustaining support in 68 localities. With 18 million people likely to face acute hunger by September, the originally estimated number of 14.3 million people in need is likely to also increase (2).”
References:
(2) https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-humanitarian-key-messages-april-2022
From August 24 through December 17, 2021, we have received $3,201.85 in donations from you via our GlobalGiving webpage, minus GlobalGiving's processing fees. For our September 19, 2021 aid distribution, we spent $2,625 of that.
The September 19 effort was our fifth aid distribution in Darfur. To prepare, we visited with internally displaced person camp leaders, considered what the residents most wanted from us, and set up a schedule and list of beneficiaries. We then returned to give out tarpaulins to 161 displaced families in those camps in the El Geneina area. So, thanks to you, in this manner we have provided tarpaulins, sleeping mats, cash, shoes, clothes and / or blankets to 920 families and 1,234 individual displaced persons in Darfur since June 2020!
To monitor the efficacy of this work, and to learn what displaced persons still need from us, our personnel in El Geneina do follow-up visits with and receive phone calls from displaced community leaders with whom we have worked and also the beneficiaries themselves. So far, response to our work has been very positive. As always, all of our board, membership and our Darfur-based staff are from West Darfur, so we are best able to maintain a rapport with those we seek to help there.
Apologies must be made for an error in our August 23, 2021 report to you. We had not at that time filed paperwork with the Sudanese government yet, but had instead consulted with another aid organization, who talked to the Sudan Government's registration office in El Geneina to find out more for us. From this we received a list of what is required to register as a charity there, and we are now preparing an application. In the meantime, since aid is in such great demand among the many thousands of displaced persons, our work has been welcomed by the local authorities.
As some of you may already know, West Darfur State has become less secure in the last few months, with the Kereneik area suffering still more conflict along with many other places (we have given aid to displaced persons from Kereneik a few times now). Our board has been monitoring the situation in and considering plans for the greater Kereneik and Jebel Moon areas. The following excerpt from page four of the December 16 Sudan Situation Report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (1) describes the situation in those places:
"Inter-communal clashes between nomads and farmers from the Misseriya Jebel tribe in Khazan-kujuk village (20km east of
Sileia) in West Darfur’s Jebel Moon locality escalated on 20 November. According to the data collected during the inter-
agency assessment that took place between 29 November and 2 December, 9,100 people (1,994 households) were
displaced to Hijeilija and Selea villages in Jebel Moon locality, as well as Werywery village in Kulbus locality, Worof village in
Sirba locality and Saraf Omra in North Darfur. In addition, UNHCR reported that about 2,300 people crossed to Chad intofive
border villages, as of 30 November. These numbers may change as there were reports of fighting on 6 and 7 December.
Community leaders of Misseriya Jabal and Arab tribes recently signed a cessation of hostilities agreement in Ag Geneina
travelled to Jebel Moon locality on 13 December to communicate peace messages to their communities in these areas.
Since 12 December, the road to Sirba and Jebel Moon has opened, and the commercial trucks are moving from Ag Geneina
to Jebel Moon.
"Up to 58,000 people affected in Kereneik locality and thousands displaced to different sites around the Kereneik town,
following inter-communal clashes in several areas, according to IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) [IOM = International Organization for Migration-PN]. Clashes in
Kereneik locality erupted on 4 December over a property dispute at a local market involving nomads and members of a
Masalit tribe. The security situation across Kereneik locality remains volatile and unpredictable. At least 47 people were
killed and 45 people injured during these conflicts. Priority needs included food, and NFIs [Non Food Items-PN] and emergency shelter, according
to IOM."
Aid partners are waiting for security to stabilize before taking further action in these places (ibid, p.5). A detailed UN map of West Darfur, showing Jebel Moon, Kereneik and El Geneina, is available here: https://reliefweb.int/map/sudan/sudan-west-darfur-state-administrative-map-september-2012
Reference:
1) https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan
Links:
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