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Field notes from Darfur
Matthew Cleary is a Field Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in El Geneina, West Darfur, a central base for MSF’s operations in the strife-torn region. After beginning operations here in September 2003, MSF is still providing health care and essential services to populations displaced by fighting on both sides of the Sudan-Chad border. Matthew, a nurse from Sydney, keeps us up to date with recent operations in the region. This is his second mission to Darfur for MSF.
I arrived in El Geneina early January [2006] and initially have been working in the hospital here in El Geneina. Then I was asked to stay and be the field coordinator for the region around El Geneina and to do exploration missions, looking at the needs of this area as at present no agencies are moving on the roads due to perceived security threats.
On the 5th of February we received a phone call alerting us to the new arrival of asylum seekers who crossed the border from Chad. The place is called Gellu and Azaza and has been a lot in the international media at present I believe.
But, since early February, MSF was the only one to provide assistance to these refugees. MSF since early February have been responsible for the emergency stabilisation phase, which has included providing water, non-food items and vaccinations. We also managed to encourage other agencies to take the road who did not want to travel. Now that we have a ‘stabilised’ population MSF is able to stand back and let the other agencies take over.
It was my first experience where MSF did all the work in that early phase; alerting the humanitarian community here but without taking any credit necessarily. But for me the best thing is that now the international community is aware of this issue [about the new arrivals from Chad] the people in need will receive help. Here are some photos of the non-food item distribution and vaccination campaign that MSF undertook in the early phase in Gellu and Azaza. Matthew Cleary » Read the article about these Chad Refugees in Darfur » Read, listen and watch more updates and reports from Darfur
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