Cameras create an air of nervousness in Darfur. To Sudan’s government, they may threaten to further unveil its hand in the ongoing displacement of its own people. To humanitarian organizations that need government permission to carry out their lifesaving work, cameras can threaten to jeopardize that often fragile relationship.
Frequent stern warnings to “put the camera away” served as constant reminders of this tension to Eugene photojournalist Paul Jeffrey as he traveled throughout Darfur in July; he had also heard that a few weeks earlier, a Spanish photographer had his camera smashed.
But Jeffrey had the rare opportunity to legally take photographs in the region. As an employee of the United Methodist Church, he received a visa to travel to Darfur, a Western region of Sudan nearly the size of France, and a permit to take photographs to document the work of allied humanitarian organizations working in Darfur. His visit took place during the rainy season, one of a few months during the year that sprawling brown sands give way to lush greenery.
“I was struck by how beautiful it was,” Jeffrey said.
He will speak about his experience and show his work tonight at the Eugene Public Library. The free event from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. is sponsored by the Lane County Darfur Coalition. The coalition has also worked at events featuring Jeffrey’s photographs from his first trip to Darfur in 2005.
“Sometimes it’s an intro to Darfur that you can’t get through the newspapers because you see the faces,” said coalition member Maggie Donahue. “It made the situation real in a way that my reading and looking at the television didn’t do. It touched much deeper than anything I experienced prior to that point.”
Donahue said the coalition has successfully worked with University organizations on past events to raise awareness about Darfur and hopes to have student support at future functions.
“I’ve found that when University of Oregon students get behind something, they do it with such passion,” she said.
The images Jeffrey brought back offer rare glimpses into a crisis that has claimed thousands of lives. While death toll numbers vary, reports from humanitarian and government organizations estimate the toll at anywhere between 200,000 and 400,000 lives. And the United Nations estimates that more than two million people have been displaced in what the United States Congress declared to be genocide in 2004. This recognition marked the first time the U.S. has labeled an ongoing conflict genocide.
Jeffrey saw several significant changes in the camps for internally displaced people on this second journey. He said life at camp is generally stable and girls have access to schools. But the hope people once expressed in the African Union monitoring mission has deteriorated. As the weakly mandated, under-funded and ill-equipped force has yielded few substantial results, optimism has increasingly faded into frustration.
Jeffrey said public awareness in the U.S. about the crisis in Darfur has increased as organizations, certain journalists and several celebrities have worked to pull Darfur into the spotlight.
University sophomore Natasha Compton learned about the crisis at the genocide symposium held on campus in April.
“I was surprised that I hadn’t learned about it before,” Compton said. “And I was also inspired to get involved.”
The conflict has a complex history that involves severely marginalized people, colonialism and government corruption. Today, African rebel groups are fighting against the repressive Sudanese government and the Janjaweed, an Arab militia group. The government denies involvement with the Janjaweed, but has been widely documented arming, funding and fighting alongside the militia, targeting rebel groups and civilian areas.
Jeffrey’s photographs document parts of daily life for Darfurians displaced by the violence. From those that seem ordinary – people cooking, cleaning, carrying water and jumping rope – to startling pictures of malnourished infants waiting in their mothers’ arms in relief organization hospitals, the pictures capture hope, despair and resilience.
Even in images of the ordinary, clues of the devastation often sit in the background. Behind one beaming girl lie homes built with thin branches, plastic and various other materials.
But Jeffrey probably saw some of the better camp conditions. Humanitarian organizations provide a lifeline for those they can reach, but Jeffrey said that aid workers are unable to access 20 to 40 percent of camps for internally displaced people.
“As we work for political solutions, we need to keep supporting them,” Jeffrey said.
Increased banditry, carried out by both militia and rebel members, prevents humanitarian aid workers from safely reaching many areas in Darfur. The United Nations confirmed evidence of this growing threat late last month in a statement that detailed a recent ambush on a marked humanitarian vehicle where three aid workers were shot. This week The New York Times reported that rebels killed 10 peacekeepers over the weekend when they attacked an African Union base.
The current state of rebel groups proved to be another discouraging development in Darfur. Jeffrey said that the rebel groups have splintered into at least 19 factions.
“Basically the factions all want the same thing,” Jeffrey said. “But it’s a leadership thing. Everyone wants to be the boss.”
He said a lasting solution requires all the parties to come together and reach an agreement. And as the rebel groups divide, this sort of negotiation becomes even more difficult.
China, a consumer of a large portion of Sudan’s oil, holds key economic and political leverage with Sudan.
“We need to keep up the pressure on China and the Rebel groups to work towards a solution,” Jeffrey said.
Two weeks in Darfur engraved many images into Jeffrey’s mind. Jeffrey met Fatma Omar just after she had walked for 15 days though the desert to reach the Hassa Hissa camp. Before she fled her home, she and her family had resisted repeated Janjaweed strikes; during one assault, the attackers raped her and killed her husband.
Donahue said she hopes that Jeffrey’s presentation will not only raise awareness but also inspire people to act. On the coalition’s Web site, the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Weisel run across the bottom of the page: “Our failure to speak out to end the on-going genocide in Darfur would place us on the wrong side of history.”