Dar Fur.

This is coolbert:

Now, I am looking at a map of Africa with regard to the refugee crisis in Dar Fur, Sudan. And the idea in my mind is to determine how supplies can be brought to these million or so refugees living in one of the most desolate and isolated parts of the world.

In my own mind, the ideal situation would be to have several ships unload massive amounts of food and other supplies for the refugees and have them transported via truck to the refugee camps. When you are talking about a million or so persons needing aid for a prolonged period of time, you are talking about massive amounts of food and other aid.

Now, Dar Fur is really landlocked. Not near a nearby seaport. The two closest ports are about one thousand miles each from the region, one at Port Sudan, Sudan, and the other at Doula, Cameroon. One ship could send a massive amount of supplies to feed the refugees for a very long time. But once the ship arrives in a port, then the task is to get the supplies off loaded from the ship and transported to the refugees. With a country like Somalia, that has a sea coast, this is not a major problem. Once the supplies were off loaded, trucks had a not so difficult time in transporting the supplies to the camps [the militias created a big problem in allowing supplies to pass in Somalia, but the basic problem of transport was not present as it is with Dar Fur]. And remember, the government of Sudan is responsible for the refugee situation in the first place. They would probably not be amenable to having a massive relief effort occur on their soil.

This National Geographic map of Africa does not reveal a hopeful situation. Road networks do exist in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Chad. But the further and further you get away from the coast, the more sparse the road network becomes. From the map, a grand total of three roads lead into the Dar Fur region! And railroads are more or less non-existent. What railroads do exist are found in Sudan, but do not connect to the Dar Fur region. And close to Dar Fur are found only two major airports that are able to accommodate jet aircraft, one airport at Abeche, Chad, and the other at El Fasher, Sudan. You would need large transport aircraft to maintain an air link for a constant transport of supplies. Probably some of these large Russian transports that can fly in massive amounts of food on one flight is what is required. Click here, and here to see Russian large transports.

The road situation is further complicated by the basic facts of life in Africa. You may see a road on a map, but that does mean it is a year-round serviceable road as we would find in the U.S. Sections may be paved, sections may be dirt. Bridges may exist, and then in some areas may not. When the advent of the rainy season, these roads may become impassable. Roads may not be able to sustain repeated convoys of hundreds of four wheel drive trucks passing over them repeatedly. And is there service stations and refueling along the route from the ports to the refugee camps? I think not. And do not forget that a similar situation may exist as did in Somalia. Clannishness and rivalries may interfere with the flow of supplies. You will have a certain percentage of supplies pilfered along the route. Some of what you send will not make it. This is not a pretty situation.

An airlift seems to offer hope. But I am not sure if sufficient supplies can be sent by air to maintain a basic level of existence for this refugee population. And a sustained airlift would require improvement of the airports in the area. Once again, do not think of an airport in Africa that has the symbol of a jet aircraft by it as being as an airport you would find in the U.S. These airfields will require massive improvement, fueling capacity, etc. This requires a massive engineer effort to be brought in, and NOW!

And once the food and other supplies are brought into the Dar Fur region, they will somehow have to be gotten to the refugees. Very large four wheel drive trucks will be required for transporting the supplies to the myriad of refugee camps located all over the Dar Fur region. One hundred thirty camps are reputed to exist at this point. These camps are located in an area as big as France! All these trucks will require fuel, maintenance, drivers, etc. Perhaps pack animals can be substituted in some instances for trucks. I am thinking about camel caravans here. What else could go into these remote areas, where trucks perhaps cannot go? Camels can, and have been for millennium. As an added measure, air drops from military transport aircraft, such as the C-130, may be required in the most desperate of circumstances.

Think about all this! This effort does required the forces of military to do the job. Those non-governmental organizations [NGO's], are just not able to handle such a task and do it well. Regardless of what the NGO's think of themselves. And the NGO's tend to be very political in nature and rub a lot of persons the wrong way, much to their discredit. A refugee situation such as this one in Dar Fur can only be addressed by an effort that is spearheaded by the military.

coolbert.