Bringing Hope and Saving Lives: Joint Humanitarian Logistics Initiatives in Darfur

The conflict in Darfur have had a significant impact on civilian population and resulted in the deterioration of humanitarian situation in the region. Approximately 5.5 million people were food insecure in Sudan in early 2018, e.g., only 2 percent of IDPs in Darfur and 1 percent of the refugee population could afford the food they need. Some 1.6 million displaced people are registered as living in camps in Darfur. The humanitarian consequences of violence and livelihood loss are seen in the high levels of food insecurity. In this situation, food insecure people continue to largely depend on relief provided by international humanitarian agencies who also face numerous challenges in implementing their programmes. The article explores the current humanitarian situation in Darfur, analysis the main actors, evaluates successful pilot innovative projects and argues that improved coordination, cooperation and partnership between stakeholders with different mandates can significantly increase the positive impact of humanitarian and protection interventions on vulnerable people in Darfur.


Introduction
When talking about the future of humanitarian aid, only uncertainty seems to be certain. There is an increase in both the complexity of conflicts and their effects, as well as an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. More places are becoming more dangerous and today's world has more protracted crises, some of which last decades. Humanitarian needs are increasing around the world.
Armed conflicts last longer while new actors appear both on the geo-political and on the humanitarian arena. In times of increasing defence budgets, global disarmament is not prioritized and thus there is no prospect of a decrease of armed conflicts. Aid is also becoming increasingly instrumentalized and politicised, reflecting a changed geopolitical context, affecting large and small states alike. At the same time, global warming has changed the patterns of natural disasters, and made them more frequent -an additional risk factor for armed conflicts. How can those working in the field of humanitarian aid deal with this complexity? How can actors with different mandates work better together to overcome the old and new challenges and more efficiently and effectively serve the cause? (HCV, 2018)

Existing Needs and Gaps
The conflict in Darfur have had a significant impact on civilian population and resulted in the deterioration of humanitarian situation in the region. The effects of the conflict ranged from deaths and injuries to the displacement of population, loss of property and crops, and deprivation of basic needs such as food, water, shelter, health, education and protection, with corresponding negative impact on economic and social rights of the population (UNAMID, 2017).
In Darfur, some 1.6 million displaced people are registered as living in camps. For unregistered IDPs-that is, displaced people living in rural settlements and urban areas-estimates vary considerably, especially as there is no systematic registration of displacement outside of camps. The humanitarian consequences of violence and livelihood loss are seen in the high levels of food insecurity, low levels of access to potable water, a lack of access to livelihood opportunities, and increased need for protection. Natural hazards are expected to exacerbate food insecurity and acute malnutrition, which are also prevalent in other parts of the country. In addition, in many parts of Darfur, inter-communal conflict is another main cause of insecurity and recurrently causes displacement. Such localised armed violence takes place most frequently between sedentary-farming and nomadic-pastoral communities, as well as between nomadic communities, clashing over access to, use of, and management of resources, especially land (OCHA, 2018).
Approximately 5.5 million people were food insecure in Sudan in early 2018-up from 3.8 million in 2017. It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the population may already be unable to afford the food they need on a daily basis to live a healthy life. The chronic malnutrition rate is 38 percent, with www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr 11 out of 18 states recording the stunting prevalence among children at above 40 percent. The past four years have also seen an influx of refugees from South Sudan. In January 2018, only 2 percent of IDPs in Darfur and 1 percent of the refugee population could afford the food they need (WFP, 2018).

Humanitarian and Peacekeeping Nexus
The UNAMID is confronted with numerous logistical and security constraints as it must operate in unforgiving terrain and in a complex and often hostile political environment. The Mission also faces shortfalls in critical transport, equipment, infrastructure and aviation assets. In the meantime, UNAMID is doing all in its power and with limited resources to provide protection to civilians in Darfur, facilitate the humanitarian aid operation, and help provide an environment in which peace can take root. The mission carries out more than 100 patrols daily and works to address some of the critical roots of the conflict (UNAMID, 2018).

UN Humanitarian Civil-Military Coordination (UN-CMCoord) is the essential dialogue and interaction
between civilian and military actors in humanitarian emergencies that is necessary to protect and promote humanitarian principles, avoid competition, minimize inconsistency and, when appropriate, pursue common goals. Basic strategies range from cooperation to co-existence. Coordination is a   have impact on civil military coordination issues (UNAMID, 2017).

Joint Humanitarian Logistics Initiatives
In UNAMID agreed to provide escorts for WFP's own as well as commercial trucks and developed three special logistical arrangements that took into account the security risk management, access restrictions, terrain and landscape of the region, and emergency nature of WFP's food assistance: 1) "Exclusive escorts"-UNAMID dedicates its escorts only to WFP fleet/contracted truck convoys; 2) "Robust escorts"-up to 30 WFP fleet/contracted trucks are added to a regular UNAMID standing weekly convoy of 30 vehicles with increased armed protection measures; and 3) "Gap filling escorts"-WFP is given an opportunity of filling a space which UNAMID has not used for its weekly standing convoy, to be comprised of up to 30 vehicles.
The main objective of this arrangement was to provide assistance to WFP to supply its main warehouses and IDPs camps in Darfur with sufficient amount of food stock needed for distribution among people affected by conflict, displacement and chronic under-nourishment in South, Central, North, East and West Darfur.

Result
The provision of UNAMID escorts was one of the largest contributing factors to WFP's rapid and timely humanitarian response to the needs of the crisis affected population and beneficiaries in Darfur.
WFP was almost invariably the first agency to deliver its assistance to conflict affected population from their food hubs filled through UNAMID escort operations.

Discussion
The "gap filling escorts" proved to be the most effective solution of the three logistical arrangements for escorting the WFP convoys along food supply routes. This is due to the fact that the "exclusive escorts" were a newly approved special arrangement and faced some challenges at the beginning of the operation, including shortage of UNAMID military personnel resulting from periodic troop rotations and unavailability of sufficient number of recovery vehicles to provide support to all planned convoys.
Security escorts to WFP trucks with food were provided by UNAMID military personnel while the overall planning and coordination of the project was provided by UNAMID PoC/HL Section at the Mission Headquarters and in the field.
In addition to these arrangements, UNAMID and WFP agreed on the co-location of a WFP Logistics/Fleet Liaison Officer with PoC/HL Section in El Fasher to act as an intermediary between the two organizations and to assist with the integrated and joint planning and implementation of the project.

Conclusion
In just about three years ( assessments, distribution and monitoring of food and non-food items and other operational activities. In addition, UNAMID continued to provide daily escorts to humanitarian water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) partners for water-trucking from Kube to Sortony gathering site for internally displaced persons in North Darfur, which hosts over 21,500 persons, as well as regular armed escorts, twice a week, for humanitarian supplies between Sortony and Kabkabiya in North Darfur. UNAMID also provided security for the warehouses and assets of humanitarian agencies, including WFP and humanitarian non-government organizations, in North and West Darfur.
Taking into consideration the acute humanitarian needs in Darfur and insecurity in some areas, UNAMID, in close cooperation and partnership with humanitarian partners, will continue to seek innovative and effective ways to provide security escorts to humanitarian convoys in order to ensure that relief items reach the vulnerable communities in a timely and efficient manner.