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Oxfam appeals for more funds for Darfur Refugees: What is Africa/Sudan real solution

It’s over 3 years since the crisis in Darfur started. For over a year no one seemed to notice despite continued calls for concern from agencies working in the field. However, when Darfur finally hit the headlines, the response was overwhelming and the outrage most certainly genuine.

 

However two years on, what has really changed. In many ways the situation in Darfur has only got worst. Despite continued international attention, Darfur like most of the other problems in the Sudan has slipped out of the headlines whilst attacks on unarmed civilians have continued. Infact, so grave is the situation that the conflict has slowly spread into neighbouring countries Chad and the Central African Republic now home to thousands of Sudanese refugees.

Whereas no one will dispute the need for humanitarian assistance for the people of Darfur hence recent emergency appeal by Oxfam, which according to its press release, they are already providing safe water and shelter for over 500,000 refugees, the solution to the Darfur problem is indeed the only way to stop the killings, the displacement and the humanitarian crisis that is Darfur.

Without a political solution to the underlying problems, Darfur becomes a bottomless pit that will drag both Chad and The Central African Republic along with the Humanitarian crisis adopting a quasi permanent status.

The crisis in Africa as many critics as well as Africans in the diaspora have cited will not be solved by cash handouts, but a complete transparency between individual countries and the ‘developed nations’.

By: Becky Wambugu and Agnes Gitau