Humanitarian Aid Produces Instability and Violence for the Waves of Refugees Living In Sudan - Research Paper Example

? Humanitarian Aid Produces Instability and Violence for the Waves of Refugees Living In Sudan Humanitarian Aid Produces Instability and Violence for the Waves of Refugees Living In Sudan Abstract Following the realization of the role of the humanitarian aid in the life of the refugees, this research paper explores how this has significantly contributed to the civil unrest in the country of Sudan. This research paper critically analyzes some intrinsic peculiar issues surrounding the refugees in Sudan and relates them to the role of humanitarian agencies to that effect. In the research, inferences and detailed comparative analysis are done in relation to other countries which have faced similar situations and deductions are made accordingly. This paper is informative enough and should be used by other NGOs and support agencies to ensure that the services they advance in the banner of humanitarian grounds do not facilitate and aggravate the existing or rather ended violence in their areas of target. Introduction For close to thirty years, Sudan, a country in Africa, has faced several internal conflicts in which the Southern and the Northerners have been engaged in the series of fights because of fundamental differences. Sudan has experienced political instability for all the years, and in the recent past the southern part of the country seceded and is now a democratic republic. Even though it got its independence following the successful secession, it should be noted that there has not been peace yet in the country, and certain economic issues like oil fields, specifically situated in Abieyi, still make the country’s tension palpable (Whitman, 1999). Because of the long period of war, the country has experienced extreme internal conflicts, and this has made the population move to other countries to seek refuge. Some of the countries that have experienced the influx of the Sudanese following the constant state of war in the country are Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia, Chad, Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and so on. Of course, many are also displaced within the country and are referred to as the internal displace persons. This research paper particularly looks at those who are displaced within the country. It should be mentioned that the population that is displaced within the country is more than those in various individual countries; the population of the internally displaced people stands at 4,644,800. It must be understood that the climatic condition of Sudan is arid. The fact that the country is an arid land coupled with the successive violence in the area has made the lives of the people very difficult. This has made very many humanitarian sympathizers build camps in the area to provide the necessary basics to the otherwise suffering population. Humanitarian aids have been synonymous with areas that have undergone political turbulence in the entire world, and this is not new to Sudan. At the face-value look, it is always construed that the humanitarian aids provision is targeted at extending a helpful hand to the suffering population and attempts to bring relative peace in the area; this can be a misconception, according to the research. In fact, the humanitarian aids form the basis of new wave of violence and war in the area. This research paper explains how the humanitarian aids are responsible for the rounds of new waves of war instead of the primary role of providing humanitarian help during crisis time (Whitman, 1999). Objective of the Study For this research paper about the humanitarian provision in Sudan and the subsequent increment of violence and war related cases, the study was designed to unravel the following: I. To understand the context in which the refugees in the country come to be; whether it is politically motivated or otherwise; II. To understand the role of the humanitarian aid providers in Sudan as far as logistical and basic need support to the refugees is concerned; III. To establish whether there is a demilitarization program for the refugees and if this contributes to the successive wave of violence experienced in the country; IV. To establish the gender and the demographic composition of the refugees in the camp and analyze if this can be a factor to promote violence form the refugees. Literature Review “Refugee” is not a new term peculiar to Sudan; it has been experienced all over the world and humanitarian crisis is not a case study relating to Sudan alone. Several countries have experienced serious political upheaval and violence that have put them in worse situations than that of the Sudan. It is not only in African countries where wars and violence resulting in people being displaced are witnessed. This is a tragedy in the entire world, and inference can be traces from the First and the Second World War, where serious humanitarian crisis was witnessed. The Holocaust period and the Armenian mass killing cannot be left unquoted in this context. These can be given as general references; in more specific references related to specific countries, the following countries have experienced internal violence resulting in refugees with waves of fresh violence after the humanitarian support. In this case, three case studies are going to be critically examined for the purpose of comparative analysis. Central Africa Rwanda is known to have experienced one of the worst genocides against the minority group of the Tutsi after they were allegedly accused of shooting the country’s president who happened to be a Hutu. The war lasted for a short period but resulted in a devastating loss of human lives, where about 1 million people were brutally murdered in attacks. To escape the persecution, most of the refugees fled to the neighboring countries. An example of the countries where Rwandese camps were opened is the Democratic Republic of Congo. These camps were entirely controlled by one ethnic group of the country, the Hutus military personnel. They were accorded the necessary support from the country’s president Mobutu and France. When the humanitarian aid providers got in, they did not mind the political situation and provided food and other basic needs to the militia and sustained them and their supporters. This enabled them to justify and legitimize their cause, and it made the war spread to Congo and the neighboring countries (Lischer, 2005). This cannot be compared, though, to the situation of the Rwandese camps in Tanzania and Burundi, where military activities were contained, and there was a relative peace in the camps. This situation demonstrated how humanitarian aid could be a disaster in waiting (Lischer, 2005). Afghan Case The situation was also similar to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The refugees’ camps in the region were hitting the headlines throughout the year, given the volatile situation in the region. One would then ask why the same Afghan refugees in Iran hardly hit the headlines and are probably forgotten, and this can be explained best by the humanitarian tact in the two different areas (Lischer, 2005). In Pakistan, the refugees received support both from the camping state and from the international body in terms of militarization of the refugees (Azadzoi, 2010). The situation was different in Iran where militarization was not accepted, and it was relatively peaceful in the area. The Iranian government also restricted those Afghans refugees who were hostile to their government and then got integrated into the urban areas from militarization. This is a perfect example of a socioeconomic alternative of managing the refugees in the accepting country. Bosnian Case Lastly, we examine the conflict behind the Yugoslavian breakup. The Islamic sect led by Fikret Abdic resented the policies of the Sarajevo government (Bosnia), and they decided to flee to the foreign land controlled by the Serbian authorities of Krajina from Velika Kladusa. That was in 1994, and the Serbian government then helped them fight the Bosnians. In 1995, they were ejected from the place that is currently under the Croatian authorities, who did not support the war and discouraged militarization to maintain rosy relations with Washington (Lischer, 2005). All these cases clearly demonstrate how humanitarian aids can fuel violence amongst refugees. It then calls for a sober way of dealing with the situation in the context form. Humanitarian aid produces instability and violence for the waves of refugees living in Sudan Conventionally, a refugee is considered a person who for some reasons has crossed the defined international frontiers to other countries for the basic reason of fleeing political, social or other persecution of targeted harm. This is not accurate, and the contemporary definition considers even those who are internally displaced as refugees and are to be given the same treatment of humanitarian aid. In Sudan, the population that is internally displaced is about 80% of the total refugees the country has produced (Reeves and Brassard, 2007). The humanitarian aid has been perceived in a very analytical process to be responsible for the instability and violence witnessed in the area over the period. In addition, to corroborate this statement, this research has drawn vivid examples from other areas in the world that have experienced similar humanitarian manipulation (Byman, 2000). The content of this paper will be found useful by non-governmental organizations as well as humanitarian providers to help them understand the context and scope they should operate in to avoid instigating violence and unrest in the areas where they should be championing for the restoration of relative peace. It is extremely sad to see that the providers of humanitarian help in a way facilitate a fluid situation in the country with refugees, in this case Sudan. Of all the factors in the life of refugees, the most important is their relationship with the receiving states. This is given in the context of why the refugees are leaving the country. There are many reasons that can make people leave their country as refugees, and they are enumerated below: fleeing after a disastrous natural calamity, fleeing from violence, fleeing because of genocide of minority groups and, being the losing side of a rebelling faction, fleeing due to uncontained pressure. This context of refugees is very essential for the determination of peace within the refugee camps. In this case, the Sudanese refugees can be classified as the persecuted minority (Reeves and Brassard, 2007). Given the circumstance under which refugees live in Sudan, the provision of humanitarian aids has led to the facilitation of wars in what can be said to be direct and indirect support. Because of the fact that the refugees are within their country as internally displaced persons, there are chances that given support of any kind, they may make a serious relapse into war. The situation is worse because of the fact that there is no demilitarization of the refugees in the camps; this is partly caused by the absence of the government al least in the South to carry out this program. Failure to demilitarize the refugee means that if they can get other human needs, then they will embark on full time military activities (Byman, 2000). This is why it has been identified that the problem of the country with the refugees’ violence and war is not just a socioeconomic problem like unemployment and the availability of refugee juvenile men (Reeves and Brassard, 2007). It is more because of the humanitarian help when others provide direct military support for the refugees to achieve their political interests. In this case, according to Dangerous Sanctuaries by Sarah Kenyon, the humanitarian providers in Sudan do facilitate violence either directly or indirectly. It is thus important to understand the political context of the refugees before extending humanitarian support to them. This has been the failure of many humanitarian aid providers; they have not fully understood the political panorama of Sudan and ended up contributing to the violence in the country directly or indirectly (Waal, 2005). Findings and Conclusions In this research, it was found that the situation of refugee violence in Sudan has nothing to do with socioeconomic issue and if it does, then the link is too insignificant to cause any meaningful change. It was realized that the situation in Sudan is politically choreographed and orchestrated. Those offering humanitarian aids either ignorantly support the militarization process or directly facilitate the militarization process in the refugee camps, and this is responsible for the violence and wars witnessed in the area, following the political turbulence and the quest for secession the country has experienced for a long period of time. This is a classical example of the Bosnian case: if the refugees are allowed to be militarized, they immediately plan on retaliation. The humanitarian aids providers in Sudan should be mindful of the militarization of the refugees and keep at bay any process that will facilitate violence in the region. References Azadzoi, Mahammad Najim. Settlements of Afghan refugees in Pakistan: an evaluation of conditions and identification of problems. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Byman, Daniel. Strengthening the partnership: improving military coordination with relief agencies and allies in humanitarian operations. Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 2000. Lischer, Sarah Kenyon. Dangerous sanctuaries: refugee camps, civil war, and the dilemmas of humanitarian aid. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2005. Reeves, Eric, and Michael Brassard. A long day's dying: critical moments in the Darfur genocide. Toronto: Key Pub. House, 2007. Waal, Alexander. Darfur a Short History of a Long War. African Arguments.. Boston: Zed Books, 2005. Whitman, Jim. Peacekeeping and the UN agencies. London: F. Cass, 1999. Read More