Comments on: Food Rations in Darfur: Humanitarian Needs and Political Entitlements http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2009/07/02/food-rations-in-darfur-humanitarian-needs-and-political-entitlements/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:36:10 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Abdallah Khalil http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2009/07/02/food-rations-in-darfur-humanitarian-needs-and-political-entitlements/comment-page-1/#comment-4106 Abdallah Khalil Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:15:44 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/?p=935#comment-4106 Alan Ross: The issue of individual compensations for the IDPs is extremely complicated concerning the agreement upon it and implementation taking into consideration the sensitivity and difficulties of monetary matters. The negotiations on such an issue may take years to agree on a final agreement which will satisfy all sides reference to the previous negotiations history. A lot of obstacles will stand in the way of finding such a negotiated agreement, imagine who will represent the IDPs among all those Darfuri movements, this will lead to a bitter dispute which needs a global efforts to solve it. If it is settled then another, even more complicated, chapter of who will be eligible for being compensated and on what basis, this needs an agreement on setting eligibility standards. Furthermore, the determination of the amounts of compensation on what basis they will be paid, according to the level of harm, loss of properties, loss of lives or as moral compensation. Then come the most important part of the story, who will be in charge of distributing the compensations to the IDPs, taking into an account the need for very high standards of orginization and honesty to achieve this process. The bottom line is that if the issue of individual compensations has become a justification to keep the IDPs on camps, don't expect a return for years to come. Alan Ross: The issue of individual compensations for the IDPs is extremely complicated concerning the agreement upon it and implementation taking into consideration the sensitivity and difficulties of monetary matters. The negotiations on such an issue may take years to agree on a final agreement which will satisfy all sides reference to the previous negotiations history. A lot of obstacles will stand in the way of finding such a negotiated agreement, imagine who will represent the IDPs among all those Darfuri movements, this will lead to a bitter dispute which needs a global efforts to solve it. If it is settled then another, even more complicated, chapter of who will be eligible for being compensated and on what basis, this needs an agreement on setting eligibility standards. Furthermore, the determination of the amounts of compensation on what basis they will be paid, according to the level of harm, loss of properties, loss of lives or as moral compensation. Then come the most important part of the story, who will be in charge of distributing the compensations to the IDPs, taking into an account the need for very high standards of orginization and honesty to achieve this process.
The bottom line is that if the issue of individual compensations has become a justification to keep the IDPs on camps, don’t expect a return for years to come.

]]> By: Alan Ross http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2009/07/02/food-rations-in-darfur-humanitarian-needs-and-political-entitlements/comment-page-1/#comment-4100 Alan Ross Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:03:49 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/?p=935#comment-4100 Abdallah, You are possibly right (at least for most areas of Darfur and where villages have not been re-settled) when you mention “it is a high time for the IDPs to consider returning back home” especially as the so-called IDP seasonal migration for cultivation of their lands is seemingly without any risk to them. I don’t know if this issue has been a main point of discussion during the AU panel hearings but I wonder if one of the main obstacles at this stage is also relating to the Abdul Wahid’s belief that compensations are in order and which has now become engrained in the minds of IDPs? Maintaining the status quo is obviously beneficial for a number of power-brokers in these camps but their sway is eased by the IDPs’ demands for monetary reparation prior to returning to their land. There is a belief amongst IDPs, according to a few who were open to discussions on this issue, of automatic forfeiture should they leave the camps before a negotiated settlement. This issue is the “closet monster” probably proving to be the biggest obstacle for immediate returns. Abdallah,

You are possibly right (at least for most areas of Darfur and where villages have not been re-settled) when you mention “it is a high time for the IDPs to consider returning back home” especially as the so-called IDP seasonal migration for cultivation of their lands is seemingly without any risk to them.

I don’t know if this issue has been a main point of discussion during the AU panel hearings but I wonder if one of the main obstacles at this stage is also relating to the Abdul Wahid’s belief that compensations are in order and which has now become engrained in the minds of IDPs?

Maintaining the status quo is obviously beneficial for a number of power-brokers in these camps but their sway is eased by the IDPs’ demands for monetary reparation prior to returning to their land. There is a belief amongst IDPs, according to a few who were open to discussions on this issue, of automatic forfeiture should they leave the camps before a negotiated settlement. This issue is the “closet monster” probably proving to be the biggest obstacle for immediate returns.

]]> By: Abdallah Khalil http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2009/07/02/food-rations-in-darfur-humanitarian-needs-and-political-entitlements/comment-page-1/#comment-4093 Abdallah Khalil Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:04:58 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/?p=935#comment-4093 The IDPs communities in Darfur have become a subject of politicization and manipulation by the Darfuri political elite, armed groups and warlords. Politically, the existance of the IDP camps send strong signals to the world about dire security situations in the region which force the population there to prefer the life of camps to their original places. This claim constitutes the required evidence for the movements leaders, humanitarian orginizations and activists to convince the world about their causes regarding Darfur. News coming from the region tell different stories about how the efforts of the goverment to facilitate the IDPs return met with reluctant and resistive responses from camp leaders being influenced by beneficiary politicians. The return of IDPs to their areas give the impression of stable security conditions, a state which contradicts with the interests of many. For movements like Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)-Abdul Wahid Nour wing, the issue of survival is the IDPs in camps so it is thier absolute effort to keep them where they are now and marketing it to the world. With the remakably reduced level of violence in the region reported by honest observers it is a high time for the IDPs to consider returning back home and free themselves from the influence of a handful of profiteer politicians. The IDPs communities in Darfur have become a subject of politicization and manipulation by the Darfuri political elite, armed groups and warlords. Politically, the existance of the IDP camps send strong signals to the world about dire security situations in the region which force the population there to prefer the life of camps to their original places. This claim constitutes the required evidence for the movements leaders, humanitarian orginizations and activists to convince the world about their causes regarding Darfur. News coming from the region tell different stories about how the efforts of the goverment to facilitate the IDPs return met with reluctant and resistive responses from camp leaders being influenced by beneficiary politicians. The return of IDPs to their areas give the impression of stable security conditions, a state which contradicts with the interests of many. For movements like Sudan Liberation Army (SLA)-Abdul Wahid Nour wing, the issue of survival is the IDPs in camps so it is thier absolute effort to keep them where they are now and marketing it to the world. With the remakably reduced level of violence in the region reported by honest observers it is a high time for the IDPs to consider returning back home and free themselves from the influence of a handful of profiteer politicians.

]]> By: Abd al-Wahab Abdalla http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/2009/07/02/food-rations-in-darfur-humanitarian-needs-and-political-entitlements/comment-page-1/#comment-4092 Abd al-Wahab Abdalla Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:55:24 +0000 http://blogs.ssrc.org/darfur/?p=935#comment-4092 A valuable report and a first-rate example of methodologically sound analysis to refute the elementary errors of Prof. Reeves, Prof. Ocampo and the Save Darfur Campaign. The comparison with the South Asian PFDS is a corrective to the emergency needs hypothesis which has become invalidated. The objective outcome of the food distribution programme is to entrench quasi-sovereign rents for a counter-elite, institutionally based in parallel so-called humanitarian structures, supported by an ever-more-shrill propaganda campaign mounted by the above-mentioned. With the shooting war over for most of Darfur this struggle for control over this system is the primary struggle in Darfur now. The battlefield is the international policy arena most particularly in the United States. Most tragically, the habits of parasitism and dependence that the new IDP counter elites have acquired through this experience have demobilized them as a progressive force, reducing them to a lumpen element. They are susceptible to being bought up by the NCP-security patronage machine in due course and thereby becoming another mechanism for an attempted single-party state, as the Salvation Committees before hand, or become a lawless common criminal element. A valuable report and a first-rate example of methodologically sound analysis to refute the elementary errors of Prof. Reeves, Prof. Ocampo and the Save Darfur Campaign. The comparison with the South Asian PFDS is a corrective to the emergency needs hypothesis which has become invalidated. The objective outcome of the food distribution programme is to entrench quasi-sovereign rents for a counter-elite, institutionally based in parallel so-called humanitarian structures, supported by an ever-more-shrill propaganda campaign mounted by the above-mentioned. With the shooting war over for most of Darfur this struggle for control over this system is the primary struggle in Darfur now. The battlefield is the international policy arena most particularly in the United States. Most tragically, the habits of parasitism and dependence that the new IDP counter elites have acquired through this experience have demobilized them as a progressive force, reducing them to a lumpen element. They are susceptible to being bought up by the NCP-security patronage machine in due course and thereby becoming another mechanism for an attempted single-party state, as the Salvation Committees before hand, or become a lawless common criminal element.

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