| | It is now (March 1985) two months since I visited eastern Sudan and wrote down my immediate impressions of the refugee situation there. Unfortunately, there seems to be no reason to amend what was written then because circumstances have not improved. In Sudan the crisis is marked by a lack of planning, the use in the field of inexperienced and poorly briefly staff, a growing refugee population that is not receiving minimum food, shelter and health requirements, and a lack of fuel which hampers some relief efforts and highlights how wastefully that resource is used (fuel was available for the visit of George Bush and other diplomats, for agency meetings and for international staff use). The focus of effort is still on how to cope today, so that decisions are made hastily and implemented quickly without adequate preparation or care. An example of this was the recent decision to move thousands of people from Wad Kowli: the need to do so and plan for it had been clear for a good three months but in the event the move was sudden and unplanned. |
