The land question

By Gamal Nkrumah

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There is no more room for error if Darfur is to pull through its current crisis. The underlying environmental resource conflict and the perennial loss of productive farmland fuel the crisis. Humanitarian relief interventions are simply not sufficient at present to fight deforestation, soil erosion, and crippling water and firewood shortages.

Long-term environmental sustainability is impossible under such conditions. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was right to designate Darfur as the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe. Like many other troubled regions across Africa, Darfur's ground water reserves are fast being depleted. And with the discovery of oil in commercial quantities, Darfur is far from immune to the forces of globalisation.

Traditionally there has been a deeply symbiotic relationship between the settled agriculturalists and the pastoralist tribes of Darfur. It is not as if the pastoralists and the peasants were sworn enemies.

However, there are synergies, too, between the pastoralists and the settled farming communities. The conflict in Darfur between nomadic Arab tribes and settled non-Arab agriculturalists is an ancient one. The periodic struggle over meagre natural resources which has traditionally occurred at rather irregular intervals -- invariably following periods of sustained drought and attendant harvest failure and famine.

The stage was being set for the catastrophe we are witnessing now in Darfur. Environmental degradation and conflict over meagre resources are often inextricably intertwined.

Although the implementing agencies are a clear asset for the time being, much depends too, on equipping the people of the region itself to secure sustainable development Darfur.

It is in nobody's interest to hunt for contingents of straw humanitarian relief workers to scythe down. Still, relief workers are often abducted, taken hostage or killed in a desperate bid to attract attention to their plight.

Imagine, though, if people in Darfur were not quite so desperate. Like other conflicts in Africa, the Darfur crisis is essentially a fight for greater prosperity and a reduction in poverty.

There are dozens of recipes for development. And, like it or not, simplistic approaches are never beneficial. Decentralisation of power, federalism and a good measure of regional autonomy are the prerequisites that the armed opposition groups of Darfur are calling for. And, their demands must be met if there is to be lasting peace in Darfur.

Underdevelopment and a lack of popular participation in the decision-making process by the locals lies at the heart of the Darfur crisis. The people of Darfur want to have a say in how their province is run. The people of outlying areas have long complained about peripheralisation, and this has won Khartoum a slew of criticism from the local population.

African leaders must seize on security as a useful recipe for environmental upgrading and economic development. If environmental and development concerns are not tackled head on, it will not take long for unrest in the ranks to spill over again.