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that is primarily humanitari-
an. Making sure that all
sectors receive adequate
response, trying to identify
gaps and cracks that might
otherwise go unseen, prioiri-
tizing the use of the limited
resources at hand, advocating
for overlooked issues etc. It is
a huge amount of work. That
is what co-ordination is really
about. It is about speaking to
people, making sure that we
are all working towards
accomplishing the same
vision, facilitating access,
facilitating communication.
Communication is very
important. If there is no or
weak communication, coordi-
nation will lose its effective-
ness.
roads than South Sudan. others in squatter areas, ity to continue their liveli-
We are essentially gatherers South Sudan has no roads. some are mixed in with the hoods is not affected.
of information; that is one of The problem in Darfur is local population. There has
our important tasks. With that insecurity. People do not not been a complete regis- Q: What does OCHA do in
information we can provide want to travel on these roads tration of them so we do not the camps?
better co-ordination. since there are bandits, know the specific number,
attacks, hijackings, kidnap- but we have a rough idea of First, we identify the dis-
Q: For some time the press pings placed persons whom the
all sorts of security
how many they are—about
has been saying less about the concerns. 2 million. They are the authorities plan to move.
situation in Darfur. r. Are you mainly southerners who Then we go and negotiate
afraid that people will forget With our people in the field, came here during the with the Government—the
about the crisis that is going communication is mainly almost 20 year civil war Governor of Khartoum state
on there? verbal over the telephone and between the SPLM and the and at the same time
through c-mails done con- government in Khartoum. arranged for assessments of
It is true that interest had stantly through the day - and areas to which they plan to
declined. But recently there often through the night as So Khartoum is a place move the IDPs and others.
has been much more about well. They always keeping us where we have been These persons have to be
Darfur in the international up to date, so we have a very involved in highlighting the moved to places where they
press, as the situation has good picture of the needs of needs of the IDPs. Last year have access to water, health
been getting worse. The secu- vulnerable groups, the risks there were a series of demo- services, livelihoods, etc. It is
rity situation has deteriorated. and the threats they face, the litions of some of the squat- a very serious issue if such
I was here at the beginning of protection abuses on the pop- ter areas where the IDPs moves make families who
managing
to
2004 when the crisis really ulation and the delivery of were living. Their shelters were
erupted. For a period we did assistance to cater to the and houses were destroyed. support themselves into
see a marked improvement in needs of the vulnerable. This They lost whatever meagre humanitarian cases because
the situation - but recently is because we have a strong means they had to survive. they have lost their liveli-
have been significant rever- presence and professionals in Some lost their lives. hoods and access to services.
sals. There are not so many the field. Others were moved physi- So that's the negotiation pro-
problems with the massive cally, by truck, to areas far cedure but it is not an easy
displacement of people, but Q: What does OHA do in away from roads and com- task.
certainly in terms of security Northern Sudan? munications, which meant
of civilians - primarily the that they lost their jobs. We have managed to prevent
displaced - we are very con- In fact, we consider Darfur to The Government moved some of these forced move-
cerned. More so than in 2005. be part of the North. We are them because it said that ments with some success, but
Q: People say that there are also present in Khartoum they are re-planning the we have also had some
no roads in Darfur—that where, for example, there are town—rezoning. In any city failures. There have been
there is nothing. So how do enormous numbers of inter- such planning takes place, people who have actually
you obtain information? nally displaced persons but it should be done in been moved to the desert,
(IDPs). They are spread such a way that people are and in the summertime in
Darfur actually has better about Khartoum the temperature
compensated and their abil-
some live in camps,
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