Peace is Possible... 

Tribes for a New Sudan 

Helping Hands 

To date, there are over 1.8 million people in Darfur displaced by the conflict. Displaced populations fleeing to urban camps and seeking safety in host villages throughout Darfur have greatly impacted the already fragile Sahelian ecosystem. One of the greatest and most consistent needs for all Darfurians, be they displaced, settled or on the move is firewood and fuel to heat their homes, cook their food, and treat water for consumption and food preparation. Fire wood collection and the risks endured by women and children collecting this scarce resource has been one of the most challenging and serious protection concerns both in IDP camps and also in villages where the conflict over resources is high.

Wood collection practices, environmental impact and protection issues have been raised at numerous UN, NGO and donor venues and has yielded a range of views on the appropriateness of various technical interventions, their effectiveness, sustainability and implementation. Such discussions have yielded several good interventions, but the impact and coordination between agencies and sectors to address mass dissemination and information campaigns have been weak and require greater emphasis on models of dissemination and opportunities to combine fuel efficient stove projects with other sectors such as health, livelihoods and water and sanitation to promote their use and utility based on the culture and environment of Darfur.

In West Darfur 3,362 women have been trained in fuel efficient stove use, design and construction. In North Darfur between 7,883 women have been trained and in South Darfur 29,777 women have been trained. UNJLC and UNFAO have also contributed funding to the promotion of fuel efficient stove design and UNFAO continues to provide funding and support for the promotion of this activity. UNICEF also has received money to support fuel efficient stove projects in Darfur. International NGOs in Darfur have piloted several design models in Darfur, but have had limited success in monitoring the impact of the particular designs or formulating strategies to more widely disseminate model use with social mobilization or marketing campaigns.

In Darfur the issue of fuel wood collection and protection are two sides of the same coin. They require coordination and capacity to tackle the challenges of providing options and interventions in very diverse settings with limited resources. The greatest tragedy in Darfur of large concentrations of displaced populations is also one of opportunity for training, capacity building, and for information dissemination campaigns, especially in a country the size of Darfur and with the logistical challenges of overland travel. The setting of IDP camps and the coordination and services provided in disperse villages hosting IDP populations provides an opportunity for social mobilization and model dissemination that would otherwise be difficult in a setting such as Darfur. Social mobilization campaigns can target mixed communities and encourage cooperation across tribes. Campaigns can also provide different tribes with the opportunity to discover shared messages and provide a common approach to encourage the protection of scarce resources.

In Darfur forums such as the Fuel and Energy Working Groups and the Protection Working Groups have worked to look at ways to encourage the use of fuel efficient stoves and have also advocated for greater funding and more partners to plan and implement projects for Fuel Efficiency. These forums have effectively created awareness among the international and national community of the utility of fuel efficient stove projects, but the methods and approaches have often been more based on training than on impact of dissemination models, methods or marketing. In addition, little evaluation or impact analysis has been completed post programming to encourage replication.

Pilot models have been developed without careful monitoring of cultural viability, livelihood impact, or utility. There has been little coordination with the health sector and even less with the water and sanitation sector. The Protection working groups have worked very hard to encourage these interventions, but it will take a coordinated effort to encourage mass dissemination, monitoring and careful impact studies on pilot models to yield sustainable and viable models to help mitigate the conflicts that emerge in these environments over access to resources.

A recent fuel efficient stove project in Kebkabiya, North Darfur trained 6,000 women to build and teach other women to build stoves. The project aimed to improve the security of women in by reducing the time spent and distance traveled in collecting firewood. The project trained over 6000 women in making fuel-efficient stoves and educated them in a number of cooking practices to reduce firewood consumption and smoke inhalation in the home. The project was also aiming to help to slow the deforestation process around Kebkabiya.

Cooking in these stoves save women hours of time and plenty of wood 

The objectives of the project were: 1) to improve the security of women in Kebkabiya by reducing the time spent and distance traveled in collecting firewood. 2) to help slow the deforestation process around Kebkabiya and 3) to educate women in a number of cooking practices to reduce firewood consumption and smoke inhalation in the home.

When this project was monitored some key findings were discovered. The women demonstrated good understanding of the difference between the traditional stoves and the Fuel Efficient Stoves (FES). Accordingly they give the following advantages of FES: 1) FES consumes half the quantity of fuel then the traditional one to cook the same food quantity e.g. to cook Assida (common local food) for a family of 8 members, traditional stove consumes 3 pieces of firewood (a size of 1 meter length and diameter of 5cm) while FES consumes only 1piece for the same quantity. 2) it requires almost half the time for cooking the same amount of food as compared to the traditional stoves e.g. to cook Assida for a family of 8 members traditional stove takes 1 hour while FES takes 20 – 30 minutes only.

Some other advantages include: 1) conserves heat so food can stay warm for longer duration compared to traditional one 2) cooking pots and area kept clean because of less smoke and ash 3) less risk of burning for both children and shelter 4) FES is moveable where the traditional stove is not easy to move from one place to another 5) FES becomes much more solid and strong with frequent use and as the fire burns and 6) Its easy to make FES. Depending on the size and the material being ready and well processed, one stove can take 30 – 60 minutes to be made.

In monitoring the impact of these models with women, the women stated that the use of the fuel-efficient stove assisted in decreasing the rate of exposure to risk. This was mainly because the number of trips women had to take to collect firewood had decreased. Previously when using traditional stoves women would have to go daily or at least 5 times per week to bring wood. In using FES the trips had reduced to 2-3 per week hence also reducing exposure and risk.

FES was also helping them decrease household expenses as the women buying wood from market had significantly reduced this expense. Previously women said when using the traditional stove they would buy wood for at least 700 – 800 SDD (donkey load) per week for a family of 8 members. When using FES the same quantity now lasts them 2 – 3 weeks. Some women had also started to sell the stoves in the market and use their skill as an income generation activity. They were producing a very limited quantity for sale and selling it for 500 – 600 SDD per stoves.

Fueling Protection 

There are however limitations to the current practice of small scale models of dissemination. The materials of even the basic clay, dung and brick designs may require initial input and travel to gather the clay that comes from wadi banks. These clay models although the most readily accessible in terms of origination materials, may make dissemination during the rainy months difficult.

There are also cultural implications. Some men, particularly from Zaghawa tribe, were reluctant in the beginning to let women join the training because of some traditions and cultural beliefs within the tribe. In the tradition of Zaghawa the activity was considered highly unacceptable and looked down upon. The Zaghawa feel this is something that is done by blacksmiths and those who work in clay processing and pots. The tribe considers these groups as inferior to them. It is a social norm deeply rooted in Zaghawa customs/traditions and belief. However, after the women who were involved in this training explained to the men that FES training was not something related with the blacksmiths work or pot making but related to better cooking practices and health, the men accepted and started encouraging women to attend the training.

The dissemination of fuel-efficient stove design has had a positive impact in reducing women’s exposure to violence and saving time. The use of fuel efficient stoves can reduce the exposure to risk for women and children, increase household spending, provide models for livelihoods, and can also decrease tension between host communities and IDPs over scarce resources. It can also impact the larger international community by decreasing the amount of time needed for AU patrols in specific areas.


Opportunities to encourage host and IDP communities to work together can also encourage opportunities for connection with community members and decrease tensions. There may also be opportunities to use pilot model training to encourage host community and IDP groups to plan together key interventions and community approaches. Stove production and dissemination can be planned to include multiple tribes, and provide spaces for dialogue concerning resource use. Appropriate models can also be developed for nomadic populations and communities that are more suited for nomadic needs and livelihood patterns.

A community of women working

Cloaked Culture: The hijab is at once beautiful and functional in Darfur. These cloaked coverings protect against sand and unwanted attention. 

Child Soldier: In countries where birth certificates do not exist it is often difficult to know the age of some of these soldiers in the GOS army. 

Washing Jerry Cans: Most water bourne diseases have been found to originate at the household level, where water from contaminated jerry cans is used to prepare food.  

Evolution of the Evicted - Encouraging Local Methods of Peaceful Coexistence

Sudan is a vast country, and Darfur in the west is a large expanse that prior to 1994 did not know the identity of three states. From Reuters to Richmond, the situation in Darfur is categorized as Genocide, Tribal warfare, civil war, or government sponsored unrest. Terms such as janjaweed, rebels, Arab militia and bandits are used to describe the various parties that are determining the fractured paths of the Abuja peace talks, international press, and the various scars of past and current tribal reconciliation processes. It seems that from distant shores, and around the policy forum tables it is easier to paint broad strokes to describe the pieces of Peace that will stem the flow of this conflict. Washington, the European Union and the UN all have their ideas. But what are the local methods and means? What is the evolution of the evicted, and what platforms and methods do they have to work through the various discussions, debates, and discourse that surround them?

There are many small steps towards peace. Reconciliation is a process and one that often involves many transgressions along the way that allow for one party to see the humanity, the fallibility and the weakness of the other side. In Darfur, Sudan there are many pieces of the equation, and with many ethnic groups, weakened native administrations, disaggregated populations in pressured places, and the international community oscillating between conflict and compassion there are a myriad of complexities that civilians face. Civilians are the ones who must make the decision for peace, and they are also the ones who understand best the path to this conflict. They are the ones who have walked miles to separate themselves from the battlegrounds and the pastures in which the warring factions still confront one another over, rangeland, water, resources, and access.

Abu Shouk is a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) located in the middle of the desert. Although it is only a few kms from the center of El Fasher town it looks as though it were set in the middle of the Sahel. There are no trees and as far as the eye can see there are various shades, colors, and configurations of make shift shelters, some in the form of pre-fab plastic covered tunnel shelters, but most made of what wood and poles they can find, covered with small pieces of cloth, blankets and in some cases even clothes. It seems to be an endless sea of people trying to find shelter in sandstorms, blazing sun, and an environment that provides little to no protection. Abu Shouk has been in existence since April of 2004 and is home to some 71,000 people.

Abu Shouk is slowly taking on the shape of a large village, made up of many different people from parts of North Darfur who fled the fighting and destruction to find themselves struggling to define this new space in which they live. Structure is provided through the family first, then the Omdas and the Sheiks that have led and sometimes followed their people to this place that is meant to provide food, water and shelter. Abu Shouk is immense and seems to be a sprawling slum set in the middle of the Sahel. Stretching as far as the eyes can see is a jumble of colorful makeshift tents, shelters and shacks. Already the colors of these shelters are faded by the sun and they are covered in a cloak of desert sand, making mute their once vibrant shades and designs. There is nothing brilliant to this assemblage now, although the sight is overpowering. All available space seems to be filled. There are donkeys, and goats, chickens and children of all ages. It is a rural city springing up from these dry desert sands.

Peace is a process and you cannot have peace without people of different views, perspectives, and experiences sharing their thoughts, fears, and stories to come to a mutual understanding between the parties that were victims and foes. In Abu Shouk there is not only one side to this conflict in Darfur. Abu Shouk is made up of different tribes, and there are even some Arab identified families that have found themselves swept from their homes too, by waves of fire, displacement and extreme fear of attack or retaliation.

The people of Abu Shouk are not isolated anymore separated by miles of desert between themselves and the next small village. They can walk to the health clinic, to a latrine or even to a hand pump or water yard. They can walk, and they have been walking, exploring their new surroundings, marveling at the people that they would never would have met, and slowly emerging into city life, bordered by the desert roads that lead to El Fasher town.
Abu Shouk has existed for over a year and one can see that there is a settling to the patterns in the camp. Abu Shouk is beginning to evolve as people seek to improve the shelter provided to them. The desert sand in some areas of the camp resembles the surface of the moon and is full of deep wells in the earth where brick making is the major industry. Free water yields to brick making an activity that is not only a livelihood issue but also one of security and stability. The water tables are low, the rains are meager and this activity alone is using close to 500,000 liters of water per day. In this cloaked culture, providing walls against the elements and prying eyes allows for families to talk and gather safely far away from this necessary madness. It also creates something that belongs to the IDPs and is not given from the international community. Ahlam, a woman from the Tawilla area in El Fasher now living in Abu Shouk is proud of her compound and when asked about her construction and home she states, “Now I can bathe my children away from all of the eyes that watch me”.

There is a pattern that emerges in these places that we all must be aware of. There are new communities emerging in the IDP camps. They are no longer the small villages isolated by miles of sand. They live closer and are experiencing not only the chaos of a relief and humanitarian environment, but are also meeting new neighbors, having new problems and even developing new conflicts. This world is dynamic and as overwhelming to many as the original trauma from which they fled. Many no longer feel that they will be returning home this year, and have begun to look for land closer to El Fasher to plant and for new livelihoods to provide food for their families.

The people of Abu Shouk are developing coping strategies, and small shelter-side markets to supplement the World Food Program rations that do not always represent the diets and foods that they are use to. They are also developing and refining strategies for peace, mitigation of conflict and new skills to maneuver a world that is much more global than what they knew before. They are doing it well, and with little help from the international monitors and mechanisms that pride themselves with managing a disaster of the scale of Darfur.
The people in Abu Shouk have organized themselves along international lines. The lines defined by proposals and projects that call for IDP participation, councils, and women’s centers. Psychosocial counseling, protection, gender based violence (GBV) and conflict mitigation all are terms they have become familiar with. But how does the local context merge into these mega camps? How are the local methods captured and who defines and distributes the messages from small to secular so that these messages can be shared and discussed to form some path to peaceful dialogue?

Peace in the south of Sudan has taken decades and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is still rooting itself through legend and legitimacy. It is a long agreement and one that many people in the South will not have read. It is the stories and the oral means and methods that have allowed people to walk for miles and months back to the places that they have fled. In Darfur the stories are still told, of insecurity, fights and rapes. The memory of most people in Abu Shouk is strong and they recognize that this new village, although vast has opportunity that did not exist before. It also has disease, dialects and discourse that they have not heard.

Local capacities for peace exist in small forms in these camps. Abu Shouk has become a form of globalization for the people of Darfur. Many villages blend into one large superstructure that then is full of international staff and programs that provide not only the basic, but also a perspective and a place that encourages new stories to develop and rooted ones to find a place in not only the minds of the locals but into the pages of the International Press. Peace is political in Sudan and as Musa Hilal and Fur leaders travel in Darfur to promote their own form of Tribal reconciliation. Processes are also happening in places where Musa Hilal has not been.

In Abu Shouk people are talking about returning and about staying right where they are. They are changing their shelters, and making brick walls and paths through the plastic pre- fab tunnels that provided the means to escape the desert sandstorms and scorching heat. They are using words like security and safety and do not expect a comprehensive peace. They know that this will take time and they are designing and defining their own ways to construct community and conversation between neighbors that are new and an environment that requires local methods to be new, innovative and inclusive. This is the face of Abu Shouk and probably the face of most IDP camps in Darfur.

Peace processes have always been political and perilous. They involve high stakes and cause catastrophic civilian casualties if the fighting continues. But in order to have these large successes it is also important to note the small ones. There are platforms in places like Abu Shouk where things are happening. People are talking, playing soccer together and making bricks side by side. They are talking about their fears, and talking about the rebels. They are learning that they have mechanisms to cope with their new surroundings. If you ask them questions they do not always have the answers, but they do have ideas. They have been adapting their shelters, and changing their diets. They are also expanding their views and learning about larger structures that their smaller village structures now fit.

Places like Abu Shouk are places that breed pressures and conflict. These camps also provide for varied perspectives and an opportunity for people to learn about other cultures and experiences. Abu Shouk has been in existence in North Darfur for over a year, and perhaps it will exist for many more. The basics are critical, but so is the building, discussing and dialogue for peace, development and cooperation. These relief environments provide opportunity as well as distress and many of these opportunities have already been found on the ground. The question is to see where we are placing structures and programs, where the seeds for community involvement and mitigation may already exist. These camps may be developed along international lines and in grids, but they will evolve based on the needs of the evicted that are seeking to find roots in the places where they are.

Abandoned Village in North Darfur 

The Places from Which we Flee..

This is an abandoned village in North Darfur. Small patterns on the ground in odd geometric shapes, which in any other context would cause a mysterious feeling to emerge, of civilizations unimagined fleeing from some magical or spiritual force to conquer new lands and create new histories. Not in Darfur. This image conjures up what most of us will never experience and are challenged to even understand.

Winged Desert Bird 

As the landscape unfolds below this winged bird, lays not another world, but reality for hundreds of thousands. Countless lives that had little to lose before this conflict, but now have lost virtually everything. Possessions have little meaning, when neighbors are killed, children brutalized, and husbands, brothers and sons executed. And familiar faces are hard to decipher from the tens of thousands who now form “new villages” set in this sandy soil.

Who are the Nomads 

This conflict is not about nomads against farmers, or the Arabs against the Africans. It is too simple, political and contrived to only call it “Genocide” and then move to the next bracelet campaign. It is a complicated land, with a version of history that has changed as the story unfolds. It is not enough to blame the Nomads or the Arabs. It is not enough to say the land cannot support these people. The land lies beneath their feet and the people are here, very real and they belong here…despite conflict or cause. From an elder to a small child they can site their reasons, rationale and conclusions. They are not interested in simple solutions; they want to feel as though they too have reasons behind their suffering. Simply stated there is more than one version to this history.

This is a conflict about “livelihoods”. It is a conflict about the right to live. It is a conflict that has ceased to be concerned with humanity and compromise, but is now about banditry, crimes of opportunity, and impervious impunity. Livelihoods will come in all forms, from the looting of villages to the grazing of camels on abandoned and fallow fields.

For the past month 135 Tribal leaders, both Arab and Fur have met behind closed doors in Nyala, in South Sudan to discuss the crisis in Darfur and identify ways to encourage IDP Return. The media was not invited and now Musa Hilal and Fur Leaders are traveling to the three Darfur States to talk about their suggestions and discuss ways to encourage the “cooperation” of the humanitarian community. The Native Administration in Darfur has been greatly weakened by the creation of these “Three States” that did not exist before 1994. Omdas, Sheiks and Sultans have taken on titles with old names, but dress in new clothes. The GOS has played at the periphery of these processes and the messages are at best unclear and at worst muted by the skirmishes in the field between rebel forces, the Janjaweed and the SLA, or the people and their predators.

One would like to see all “Peace Processes” as encouraging, a sign of local capacities being respected, and traditional methods emerging. But at this time and in this place there is more distrust and disdain than discussion. It has already found a cynical media presentation in Reuters and even the New York Times. From the desert to the halls of UN headquarters these processes are dissected.

Elder Eyes 

How then can these peace processes emerge? In our world of images, media and political piracy it is easy to be lulled into some apathetic view of the Darfur drama. We can call it “tribal” or state that Africa should solve its own conflicts, not recognizing that a continent is a hard land to manage. Most do not even know the names of the countries that make up this incredibly vast land mass. Darfur is a part of a much bigger part of the plan and the humanitarian community is also part of this drama. We are all actors, some acting out of apathy and others out of awareness. It takes many forms and comes from all corners of the globe, the Japanese training the AU, the Spanish working with the Sudanese Red Crescent, the US neglectful negotiators of an unstable Peace. No country government can work alone with these fractured factions it will take all of our efforts, empathy and education.

Hands at Large 

Abu Shouk IDP Camp

It stood in the middle of a desert. Stretching as far as my eyes could see was a jumble of colorful makeshift tents, shelters and shacks. Already the colors of these shelters was faded by the sun and covered in a cloak of desert sand, making muted their once vibrant shades and designs. There is nothing “brilliant” to this assemblage now, although the sight is overpowering. All available space seems to be filled. There are donkeys, and goats, chickens and children of all ages. It is a rural city springing up from these dry desert sands.

A Sea of Shelters 

The IDP Camp of Abu Shouk is located in the middle of the desert. Although it is only a few kms from the center of El Fasher town it looks as though it were set in the middle of the Sahel. There are no trees and as far as the eye can see there are various shades, colors, and configurations of make shift shelters, some in the form of pre-fab plastic covered tunnel shelters, but most made of what wood and poles they can find, covered with small pieces of cloth, blankets and in some cases even clothes. It seems to be an endless sea of people trying to find shelter in sandstorms, blazing sun, and an environment that provides little to no protection. Abu Shouk has been in existence since April of 2004 and is “home” to some 71,000 people. It is a large city confined to an area that if void of these structures would seem like a scene from a movie on Saudi Arabia. The dunes are a brilliant orange against the noon day sun, and the distant mountains of Fasher rise slowly as though a mirage against this backdrop.

As I made my way through this vast land of displacement, you could see small shoots and roots beginning to emerge from what initially had seemed like chaos. There were market stalls, and people selling small plastic household goods, and packages of matches. There were “shelter side” stands made up of a few children or women selling groundnuts. There was commerce of a sort, the kind that buys some extra food for a family and allows for salt and sugar to be used in preparing meals.

Small Women in Childrens Clothes 

Abu Shouk is beginning to slowly turn into a village of sorts – many village turning into one seemingly endless expanse. The desert sand in some areas resembles the surface of the moon and is full of deep wells in the earth where brick making is happening. Free water yields to brick making an activity that is not only a livelihood issue but also one of security and stability. In this cloaked culture, providing walls against the elements and prying eyes allows for families to talk and gather safely and away from this necessary madness.

It is hard to imagine living like this, even temporarily. The temporary has now turned into the “timeless” and no one knows when these people will be able to return. There is still rampant insecurity in the village areas where these people came from. The training of the militias still continues, and over 50% of North Darfur is SLA (Sudanese Liberation Army) territory. There is conflict from many sides, and now there is a new place for “prey” in the IDP Camps and the surrounding environs. Women and children gathering wood find themselves subject to harassment and rape and the “police” that are often accused of these crimes face little punishment and seem in many cases to be above prosecution. Darfur is a place where issues of protection, security and safety are at the forefront of people’s heart and minds. Food and water may be scarce, but the daily emotional strain and torment that some families face impacts whole communities and in some cases entire camps.

Their Eyes Were Watching 

There was a riot the other day at a camp here just outside of town. 2,000 plus people mobilized to protest the rape of two young girls. It was believed that they had been raped by the police and the IDPs took to the desert roads surrounding the camps. The Sheiks and the Umdas (local leaders) could not contain the pain, anger and frustration of this crowd. It emerged as one force, spilling out from the seams of the camp out into the main road that leads to the entrance. The GOS mobilized and sent in waves and trucks of police, tear gas was fired into the crowd and shots fired. The unrest turned to chaos, and then to more unrest. It lasted for most of the day, waves of pain emerging in shifts as young men, women and even children mobilized, anxious to express their pain and anger even in the face of injury.

There seems to be no safety in these humanitarian havens. The police have been hired by the GOS and many of them are recognized as being party to the conflict, from areas where villages were burned and looted, or from being members of an Arab tribe accused of the attacks. There is little trust and pain lurks close to the surface. It is exhausting to be vulnerable in all places from village to road and from road to makeshift shelter. But even in the midst of fatigue frustration fuels dissent and resistance.