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| Sudan
(Darfur) Complex Emergency (2004- Present) |
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Insecurity
in the three states of Darfur, the
western region of Sudan, has steadily
increased since the Darfur-based opposition
Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army
(SLM/A) attacked Government of Sudan
(GOS) military forces at El Fasher,
North Darfur, on April 24 and 25,
2003. Fighting amongst the main opposition
groups-the SLM/A and the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM)-the GOS military,
and GOS-supported militia groups collectively
known as Jingaweit intensified during
late 2003.
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The
humanitarian emergency in Darfur is a direct result of
violence toward the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massalit civilian
groups by GOS forces and the Jingaweit. Conflict-affected
populations describe recurrent and systematic attacks
against towns and villages, burning of buildings and crops,
arbitrary killings, gang rape, and looting. The GOS has
used aerial bombardments to terrorize civilians who the
GOS claims are harboring SLM/A or JEM forces. According
to the United Nations (U.N.), approximately 860,000 people
are internally displaced and more than 110,000 people
have fled across the border into neighboring Chad, out
of an estimated population of 6.5 million within Darfur.
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In
response to this crisis, in May 2004, the USAID Office
of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) deployed a long-term
Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to monitor
and evaluate USG humanitarian assistance in the Darfur,
Western Sudan. OFDA has also had a Washington based
Response Management Team (RMT) active since May 2004.
The Forest Service International Programs Disaster Assistance
Support Program (DASP), at the request of OFDA, has
provided continuous support to the current USG humanitarian
assistance effort in Darfur since the beginning. Field
Officers Ron Libby and Gary Barrett have spent a considerable
amount of time in the Darfur Region serving in a variety
of capacities for OFDA from Program/Field Officer to
Logistics/Security Officer. One the field officers headed
the sub-DART office in Geneina, Sudan for two months.
The Forest Service (Leslie Prewitt and Doug Elliot)
has also provided many staff for the RMT, which has
proved invaluable to OFDA, due to the high staffing
demands for this response.
During
the rainy season in Sudan (July - October), the humanitarian
community discovered that the lack of a developed transportation
network was biggest hindrance to delivering the food
and non-food assistance to the displaced people in Darfur.
This was due to flooding of many of the roads and passages.
Forest Service staff assessed the situation as developed
a draft action plan that called for the potential deployment
of pontoon bridges to help open the transportation network.
In response to the plan, OFDA requested that Forest
Service Engineer Merv Erickson travel to Sudan to perform
a bridge and road assessment. Data collected from that
assessment trip will help to plan for the next year's
rainy season.
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