Developing incentives for peace in Darfur

by Tim Shenk

David Phillips, a CSHR research scholar, is helping Darfurians to identify development opportunities in their war-torn region. / Nicole Schilit

Seven years after violence erupted in Sudan’s Darfur region, the conflict has stubbornly continued despite all attempts at international mediation.

The Center for the Study of Human Rights is carrying out a program called the Darfur Development Initiative to promote peace in the troubled region.

The goal is to identify ways to meet water, food and health needs in Darfur, both during the conflict and after any future peace agreement. The goal is to provide an incentive for conflicting parties to reach an agreement, according to David Phillips, a CSHR research scholar who is managing the Darfur Development Initiative.

The initiative began in December 2007 with a conference at Columbia involving dozens of expatriate Darfurians, U.N. officials, ambassadors and human rights practitioners.

“It was a terrific, dynamic talk,” Phillips recalls. “I’d say that everybody at the meeting agreed that the root cause of the conflict was the historic marginalization and impoverishment of Darfur.”

CSHR organized a subsequent meeting in Cairo, Egypt, for Darfurian civil society leaders, including university professors and heads of NGOs. They formed a “Darfur Advisory Group” to identify development opportunities in the region. However, the ongoing conflict has made research difficult. Some members of the Darfur Advisory Group already have overwhelming responsibilities.

“I remember the lead presenter on health issues telling me that he delivers 50 babies a day in Darfur, many in conflict settings,” Phillips said.

In December 2009, Phillips traveled to Khartoum to convene a meeting of Darfur Advisory Group members and to plan next steps for the initiative.

Phillips is seeking funds from the diplomatic community to support the Darfur Development Initiative. One potential project is a comprehensive assessment of water resources in Darfur. Water scarcity is widely believed to be on the issues driving the conflict.

“It’s very unusual for an academic institution to undertake this kind of applied research,” Phillips said. “For Darfurians who largely feel abandoned and isolated and alone, the fact that Columbia has stayed engaged has been a heartening contribution.”

Published in RightsNews Volume 28, no. 1, February, 2010.
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