France begins airlift for Chadian, Sudanese refugees
French military planes on Sunday began airlifting tonnes of relief supplies and food aid to refugee camps in eastern Chad in one of the first overseas humanitarian initiatives ordered by President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The operation followed a visit this month to the camps near the border with Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region by Sarkozy's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
{..I can't think of a better background for a foreign minister to have than MSF...}
UNHCR and French officials said the logistics operation aimed to put stockpiles of relief items, like blankets, plastic sheeting, buckets, and food in place before the start of the rainy season next month made roads and bush airstrips unusable.
"We need to finish before the rains. There is a need for urgency, because the rainy season is going to start in earnest at the beginning of July and the roads won't be passable any more," Colonel Vincent Tesniere of the French military contingent stationed in Chad told Reuters.
On the minus side, the international aid agency Oxfam announced the other day that they were pulling out of the largest refugee camp in the region (Gereida -- 130,000 people) due to security concerns. Many of their programs have already been suspended since an attack on the camp in December 2006, but they were staying around, waiting for the security situation to improve. This move signifies them giving up.
Oxfam has reached an agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that it will take over maintenance of water and sanitation services on a long-term basis. However, Oxfam's important health education and livelihoods work in the town will cease after August. This work has helped prevent the spread of disease in the vast, crowded camp and also provided opportunities for people to improve their livelihoods and reduce their dependency on aid.
"As usual in Darfur, the people who will suffer most are the civilians who have already been attacked, forced from their homes and had their lives thrown into turmoil. For the last six months they have not had the level of assistance that they need, " added Nursey.
Morally I'm thrilled with
Morally I'm thrilled with the airlift and disappointed in Oxfam. However, on a more academic level, I have mixed feelings about both. First, Oxfam's action is not so terrible. They don't want to see their people being killed too, and their first responsibility needs to be to their volunteers THEN to those they are there to help. There's no need to get large numbers of otherwise uninvolved people killed. Second, regarding the French mission, I don't feel it goes far enough. The world needs to make a statement here and now, that governments are not independant entities, but groups dedicated to the service of their people, whose power only rises from those people. Intervention not only should, but MUST occur and not in Chad, but in SUDAN. The flow of power from the people to the government is a basic tenant of democracy. The fact is that because the power of government rises from the people, a government that does not serve its people or actively works to harm them does not deserve its power and therefore sovereignty does not apply in these cases. The fact is that right now we are determining not only the fate of the victims, but the fate of the world. If the world does not act, we say that power belongs to the few, that governments are sacrosanct, and that fascism, autocracy and monarchy are the proper forms of government. Any direct action in Darfur, any breach of sovereignty is not a signal of a decline in government power, but a statement in favor of the sovereignty and power of every human person, which in turn strengthens the government system that the UN has always favored, democracy.
Sorry, rant.
Peace and love,
Joe!
nice rant. as far as I'm
nice rant. as far as I'm concerned, Sudan forfeits its right to sovereignty when it demonstrates a clear inability to protect its own people.
not only are they not protecting them, they're endangering them purposely.
^^^^^^^^^^
The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.
-Gloria Steinem
France is definitely on the
France is definitely on the right track, and thank god. But at the same time, I agree with Joe. Though it's a real step in the right direction, it doesn't go far enough. My opinion is a little biased, though, because I was really rooting for Segoline Royale to win the election. That being said, at least there are some real, honest humanitarian efforts being done. There's less skirting the issue.
As for Oxfam, I definitely understand their need to pull out, if veritble violence is being inflicted on their volunteers and the refugee camp itself. It's just such a horror that people would participate in these attacks to begin with.
The world often saddens me.
would agree that it doesn't
would agree that it doesn't go far enough, although the fact that they don't have to do anything (like our government could do an airlift --- but we're not) means something.
oxfam -- yeah, also agree with you guys. it says an awful lot that they waited so long before finally deciding they can't be there anymore. the diplomatic process has drawn out forever.
^^^^^^^^^^
The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.
-Gloria Steinem
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