Can Darfur get a drop to drink?
Those of you who know me, know that the conflict in Darfur is an issue I’ve spent a considerable amount of time following and attempting to generate awareness about. This is a conflict that has ravaged the western region of Darfur, the eastern region of Chad and Central African Republic, has killed at least 200,000 and forced millions out of their homes. Plenty of sites offer background information on the conflict (which kind of makes me ill that the background information has to be continually updated) including the UN, Save Darfur, and the BBC.
But reports have come out in the last week revealing the discovery by Boston University researchers by use of satellite radar of an underground lake that is from water that seeped deep underground from an ancient body of water about the size of Lake Erie. This is a really big deal as far as the Darfur conflict is concerned. Part of the cause of the violence is the scarcity of resources available in the Darfur region, which led to clashes between Arab and African farmers. This, in turn, led to violence against government targets as locals increasingly felt their issues were being ignored by the national government. Not that the Bashir regime has a history of, at best, neglecting the African population in Sudan. This time they decided to bolster Janjaweed militia to react to the problem (as opposed to listening to their citizens concerns), and the ensuing violence between the rebel groups and the government-backed Janjaweed militia continues to destroy the lives of the Darfur people.
So, the lake. Voice of America did a lengthy interview with Dr. Farouk El-Baz, the director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University. Referring to the remnants of the ancient lake:
“Some of that water would still be there as ground water, which means that this is a signal to the people in Darfur that there may be plenty of water down there to resolve many of the real problems,” -Dr. El-Baz
He sited two major droughts in the last twenty years that have built up tensions between the Arab and African farmers. This discovery, as well as the construction of about 1000 wells, would be able to serve many of the needs of both the African and Arab population, which have mostly been surviving off of insufficient supplies from surface water wells.
Of course, the construction will be very difficult as violence continues to plague the area. And an end to violence could mean trouble for the Bashir regime as ICC warrants are already out for some of his administration for war crimes. So what motivation does Bashir really have? Hafiz Muhamad of Justice Africa told the BBC’s Focus on Africa program that the discovery of the lake is “very significant,” but that “it has long been known there was water in the area but the government had not paid for it to be exploited.” Too busy painting their military planes to look like UN delivery crafts, I guess. Remember that Vanity Fair issue on Africa I posted about? Well there is an article about China’s involvement in Sudan that sheds some light on how Bashir’s regime has been able to continue its campaign of death and destruction without real consequences. One thing the article talks about is how nuanced diplomatic language can really be: so when China finally started nudging Sudan to accept UN forces, behold a signed agreement to allow a hybrid AU-UN force in Darfur. So combine the lake and wells with a hybrid AU-UN force in Darfur, is it possible that after years of suffering for the Darfuri people, we may see some resolution in the near future?