Urgent aid for El Geneina area West Darfur, 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:

(1)  https://displacement.iom.int/sites/default/files/public/reports/Geneina%202021%20EET%20Update%2027.pdf

(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:

• Dec. 16 2021 UNOCHA Sudan situation report
• West Darfur State map showing Kereinik, Jebel Moon, El Geneina