Al Jazeera Interviews NP's Technical Protection Advisor in Sudan

Mary Brace is the Technical Protection Advisor for Nonviolent Peaceforce in Sudan and based in Tawila. A live interview was conducted from by an interviewer from Al Jazeera news. The video and transcript can be found below:

Background Info From Al Jazeera Interviewer:

The distance from El Fasher to Tawila is around 60 kilometres. Now to put that into context, that would take someone more than 15 hours to walk if they took no breaks. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 652,000 internally displaced people are already taking refuge in Tawila. The town hosts around 7% of all internally displaced people in Sudan and more than half of those displaced people are under the age of 18.

Note: Minor edits were made for grammar and clarity.

How much protection are civilians getting who are trying to flee El Fasher and get to places like Tawila, as we watch these horrendous videos of of civilians being executed in hospitals and on streets?

Civilians in El Fasher and across North Darfur are currently receiving very limited protection. The conditions are catastrophic, as we've been hearing. The conflict is ongoing and there is no guarantee of safe passage for civilians as they try to come towards Tawila. Upon arrival, the main concerns are immediate drinking water.

People are arriving extremely dehydrated and malnourished. [Other concerns are] food and medical services for wounds that civilians sustained as they were fleeing El Fasher. Nonviolent Peaceforce believes the protection of civilians must be central to any response and we strongly urge all diplomatic and humanitarian means to protect civilians in this context.

What are these civilians telling you about the sort of experience that they were dealing with in El Fasher, those who have managed to flee at least?

The last months have been absolutely harrowing. People talking about just the extreme fear of constant bombardment, the extremely limited food that was available, people eating cow hides because there was nothing else to eat, and extremely limited medical supply. I spoke to one man who had five pieces of shrapnel in his body that he had sustained over the previous weeks that were still lodged there

We've all just been hearing extreme suffering from those who have arrived in the recent days. There were accounts of people tripping over dead bodies as they fled.

We've also been seeing people malnourished, particularly many men who are coming with wounds and broken limbs. And as I said, shrapnel, we're also seeing that people are not arriving together, suggesting, you know, that people are being separated on the way.

And we're also hearing accounts of of people collapsing on the way and family members needing to leave other family members behind as they couldn't make the journey.

If they [civilians] make it to Tawila, are they getting the help they need? Given that we've been hearing for months about how there's been an influx of people and it's been scarcity of basics in Tawila, even before the fall of the El Fasher.

The numbers of of displaced people here, it's just absolutely astounding, the camps stretch across the horizon as you arrive to the town.

Humanitarian partners are doing a wonderful job at trying to provide services, but resources are very, very limited. The core things that people are needing obviously are clean drinking water, especially once they arrive. 

Many [people] are traveling over several days because they're trying to travel under the cover of darkness, so they won't travel during during the day. 

Food as well, [there are] massive needs [for food] and then basic hygiene. One of the areas where people are being located at the moment, there are only two latrines for thousands of people to use and that creates significant health concerns. 

And then of course, shelter. People are currently making homes out of local materials, collecting sticks and and straw to make some basic shelter.

In addition to this, I mean, there's just extreme levels of trauma that people have experienced and with limited communications, people are not in touch with family members. There's just in general, a lot of fear. In one area, [where] I was, half the children in the area were orphans.

I understand your organization negotiates with the RSF to get humanitarian work done. How easy is that process? Are you able to intervene since part of your your mission relates to protection, to try and establish some kind of safe zone or corridor for these people to get out those who want to leave from dangerous areas without having to face the threat to life?

Our response at the moment has pivoted entirely towards emergency response. Part of that is trying to work towards negotiating safe access, both for partners delivering life saving aid and also for civilians to arrive here in Tawila.

I can't comment specifically on which groups that we are working with, but a lot of it is to do with coordination between various parties. So that is definitely one thing that we are working on at the moment. Other areas are just about helping coordination and crowd control at various centres, clinics, and things like that.

What are your biggest challenges at this point then? Let me put the question that way.

The scale of needs is probably one of the core [challenges]. It's very, very isolated out here. It takes days to come over land. So geographically it is very difficult and alternative routes are dangerous due to the ongoing fighting. 

Why is the scale of need much greater than the assistance? Are we not seeing the mobilization of the sort of global agencies, UN agencies to meet the needs? What is happening that is leaving people with unmet needs?

The needs are greater than what has arrived so far. So, partners are mobilizing resources, but we we call for more to be delivered here in this time.