Theme: The information about famine relief efforts by indigenous organization in Sub-Saharan Africa is scarce because their role has been neglected. Sudan offers an unparalleled field of inquiry as it has been, since its independence, the largest transmitter and receiver of refugees and IDPs from Africa and presents the full range of climate gradation from the North desert to the equatorial zone watered by the summer monsoon. This paper describes the dynamic processes that were adopted by individuals and indigenous institutions when they were faced with famine in Darfur and Western Sudan.
1.Introduction
The role played by individuals and indigenous institutions on fighting famine in Sub-Saharan Africa has been neglected and a lot of emphasis has been placed on western countries responses.
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Indigenous organizations and individuals adopted certain processes when they were faced with food scarcity and famine in Darfur and Western Sudan.
Drought brought about famine and scarcity and indigenous institutions and individuals was forced to develop new strategies of fighting the problem.
During the early stages of drought, indigenous organizations played a crucial role in providing assistance to people living in those areas.
As drought continued, the role of indigenous organizations diminished forcing the individuals to develop new adaptive strategies.
2. Information about Western Sudan
3.Western Sudanese farmer’s relies heavily on rain fed agriculture.
4. The decentralization laws of 1974 led to the emergence of semi-autonomous regional government in Western Sudan.
5. At micro-level sheiks and village leaders are part of regional government structure.
6.The role of sheiks is to allocate land to farmers and settle disputes among village groups.
7.What caused the famine and its consequences
Agriculture in western Sudan relies on rain for water
The regions of North Darfur and North Kordofan have been facing a near-endemic drought since the late 1960s. With the exception of a few good years, this drought is reflected in a steady decline in the production of rainfed areas and a food gap at the local level
Western Sudan experienced a sharp decrease in rainfall between 1954 and 1984, that led to poor agriculture harvest and drying up of wells and some rivers.
The problem drove seven million people living in the north semi arid areas in poor economic conditions.
It brought about major changes in the lives of nomads and farmers. Nomads suffered heavily losses and were forced to move to urban areas to survive.
Nomadic tribes had lost their herds, and some opted for sedentarization and sought suitable land. The equilibrium balance between sedentary and nomadic forces, placed under the sign of cooperation and exchange, against a background of fluidity of identities and belonging, froze under the effect of a cleavage between the so-called Arabs and non-Arabs
Resulted in increased in insecurity
Since the famine of 1984-1985 that devastated parts of Darfur (de Waal, 2005), the security situation has gradually deteriorated. In reality, the aftermath of the famine of 1984-1985 was the occasion of a general awareness in the region of the state of abandonment from which it suffered from the central government. In the summer of 1984, Marshal Nimeiri's government first attempted to mask the gravity of the situation by isolating Darfur and barring NGOs and the media from accessing this far-flung province from which masses of displaced to the suburbs of the capital, in which they were forbidden to enter.
8.How indigenous institutions deal with the famine problem
Neighbors, families, and friends shared food because in Islam sharing with those who are in need is one of the pillars of Islamic region.
Political and economic leaders contributed heavily to alleviate the suffering of the people, but the problem until many of the leaders run short of their savings.
They achieved this by initiating humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid in all its forms, in North Darfur as well as in North Kordofan, keeps people on the ground as it is distributed at village councils. It stabilizes prices, reduces family debt and slows down animal sales. Through free food distributions or Food for Work programs, it is gradually becoming one of many resources for the populations and can therefore be considered part of the panoply of survival strategies for these populations. By keeping populations (at least part of them) on the spot, it is part of the government's logic that seeks by all means to stop the flow of migration to large urban centers. But in the long run, it does not solve any of the basic problems and only increases the dependence of the populations concerned.
Sheiks look for merchants to assist the people and in some occasions they provide their personal savings to those who are in need.
9.How individuals responded to the problem
Western Sudanese was forced to migrate from their homes to southern part of the country in search for food and pastures for animals. Others moved to urban areas to seek for jobs.
Traditional food for westerners is vegetables, seeds, milk, and meat. The stable food is millet or sorghum porridge served with other relishes such as Mulah Lubia and others. During famine they were forced to eat famine foods such as wild melons, Mukheit, and grains stored by termites.
The residents normally eat three meals in a day but they started taking one meal in a day in order to save for the following day.
Sudanese are known to be welcoming and visitors are easily absorbed in the society, to survive the famine, individuals turn hostile and they no longer accept visitors.
Opinion: The article is important because though many indigenous institutions and individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa do a lot to assist their communities in time of drought, little has been documented about their good work and a lot is written about foreign countries coming to help Africans. The article has provided in-depth information on what indigenous institutions are doing.
References
Soheir, S. (1989). Indigenous Institutions and Adaptation to Famine outline . Overseas Publishers Association
