The conflict in Darfur erupted more than a decade ago, claiming many lives and displacing hundreds of thousands of people. Disputes over scarce water resources, especially between farmers and nomads, have been cited regularly as one of the root causes of the conflict. Against this backdrop, a growing number of people internally displaced from tribal clashes and fighting between armed movements and Sudanese forces have increased pressure on Darfur’s limited water resources.

 

The lack of access to water by Darfuris has drawn local, national and international attention, and eventually led to an international water conference in June 2011. The conference focused on how the equitable use and management of the limited resource could help build peace in the troubled region.

 

The two-day conference, which was sponsored by the Government of Sudan, UNAMID and UN agencies, focused on Darfur’s need for modern water resources. More than 300 Sudanese and international water experts, economists, development specialists and donors worked to develop new ideas for Darfur and, in the process, raised US$1.5 billion in pledges to implement water projects designed to rebuild Darfur’s water infrastructure devastated by long years of conflict and neglect. 

 

 

On 26 March 2012 in Kutum, North Darfur, UNAMID peacekeeper Lt. Col. Martin Feni, Commander of UNAMID’s South African contingent, helps a woman pump water at night in the Kassab camp for internally displaced people. Photo by Albert González Farran, UNAMID.