UMCOR to Set up Operations Inside Sudan
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is now poised to provide more direct services inside the violence-torn Darfur section of Sudan
The nonprofit relief and development agency of The United Methodist Church is now poised to provide more direct services inside Sudan, according to a recent report. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), which is currently serving Sudanese refugees in Chad, will extend its efforts with displaced persons inside the violence-torn Darfur section of Sudan by mid-December.
The United Nations estimates that 70,000 people have been killed and 1.6 million pushed from their homes by a months-old rampage supported by the government of Sudan. International efforts to bring a halt to the violence are so far unsuccessful.
A UMCOR investigative team, which spent three weeks in the area, found continuing need for basic relief efforts, for steps to ward off famine, and for preparation to eventually return people to their homes.
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Jen Poitras, UMCOR assessment team member, described the killing and plunder primarily as a conflict between "pastoral people," most of whom are Arabs, directed against "agricultural" or settled people, most of whom are African. Virtually all of the people in Darfur are Muslim. The government has backed the Arab militia, referred to as Janjaweed.
Poitras explained that Darfur, which is about the size of Texas, has three regions: north, south and west—where most of the attacks on the settled villages have been. Survivors have fled into Chad and the southern region.
She also reported that most of the refugees in South Darfur have little food or shelter and no way to cook, but seem more afraid of attack. Also, along with the political violence Darfur is facing, the almost sure likelihood of famine in the near future, UMCOR reported. The agricultural system has broken down. Seed, poultry, farm animals, and equipment have been lost.
UMCOR reports that it will initially concentrate in the south with a priority on the distribution of essential emergency supplies such as buckets, plastic sheeting, cooking utensils, and soap.
"I am pleased that we were able to send our own investigative team into Darfur to get a first-hand view of the situation," said the Rev. R. Randy Day, chief executive of the General Board of Global Ministries.
Last May, the United Methodist General Conference—the legislative unit of the 11 million-member denomination—instructed the board to monitor and report on conditions in Darfur, as well as to provide humanitarian assistance.
He thanked staff and friends of UMCOR in relief and diplomatic arenas for helping to make the investigative team possible. It is one of the few independent inspections to be allowed by the government of the Sudan.
"We must become even more active in providing assistance and in advocating for international action to stop the violence," said Day. "We must continue and increase both humanitarian and diplomatic efforts."
He urged "the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States to intensify efforts aimed at persuading Khartoum to end the violence and prepare for the return of the refugees."
UMCOR is currently partnering with an international ecumenical alliance in Chad refugee camps where 130,000 Sudanese have fled from their burned and looted villages. The agency reports that it will initially make a modest investment in the Darfur operation and later solicit additional funds from United Methodists and from governmental and international donors.
