International Response To The War in Darfur - Logistics

Logistics

Logistics is one of the major obstacles in Darfur that hinders successful deployment of the UNAMID peace-keeping force and the humanitarian organisations that strive to bring peace, security and a relief of human suffering to the region. The vast region has no major surfaced road network. It is nearly 1300 km from Sudan’s one and only international sea port at Port Sudan and 700 km from the international airport at Khartoum. Transporting aid to and around the region is hard enough, but during the summer months it is nearly impossible as heavy rains descend and destroy the dirt roads and fill the wadis, leaving many areas inaccessible. Cargo is often held up at customs as documentation requirements are often changed and cargo retained at the docks until varying amounts of government officials have inspected it.

During 2007-2008, 22% of transport companies discontinued their services to Darfur due to insecurity. Banditry has increased throughout the conflict, as many of the small rebel factions have turned to it to finance their operations. 51% of the incidents occur along the Ed Daein to Zalingei route, in which both goods, the trucks and drivers have been captured and kidnapped along the way. The goods have been sold for profit, while the vehicles, the main prize, have been incorporated into the bandits' operations, with the kidnapped drivers used to maintain the vehicles. Truck-jackings have become an increasing problem to logistics as not only have the local contractors increased their prices, but many now have to wait for the government to provide armed escorts along the major routes. These escorts are infrequent and are on offer only when the manpower can be spared. The UN forces currently do not have the permission or the forces to operate the long convoys in and out of Sudan, creating a large backlog of aid piling up at the end of the surfaced road in El Obeid, waiting for a convoy to take them the rest of the way. A 6 or 7 day journey is now taking over 3 weeks due to these restrictions.

UNJLC, WFP and CARE International have joined forces to create a common pipeline for the different UN agencies and NGOs to transport their procured goods to the Darfur region. During the months of May and June 2008, they offered theses services for free, to help the NGOs stockpile their materials so that they would have enough to outstand the rainy season. These services were limited however, and only really applicable for non-food items. Humanitarian organisations that require more constant delivery of goods and delicate materials such as medical supplies and food supplements have been faced with the dilemma of having to fly their materials in, due to the rains. UNHAS has only a few planes and is overstretched due to lack of funding. Many organisations are having to resort to hiring local air freight contractors, which alone is very expensive. Some organisations who cannot afford the high prices use the larger multimodal companies which offer a midway to the fast and expensive air freight, and the cheap and very slow land freight.