You think working here is hard, just try getting in!

The general absurdity of Sudan is often to hard to grasp. There are of course the common dangers one would expect: war, theft, disease, etc...but one quickly views those attributes as part of the job and begins to grow a thick shell around themselves to deal with such hardship. But its the daily ridiculousness that tends to penetrate that shell and slowly drives one mad. Take for example trying to get in and out of the country...or even just moving about inside the country. These are issues that the rest of the world has seemed to come up with a pretty simple formula for, but Sudan has chosen another path.

Below is a document a colleague put together for new INGOs trying to work in Sudan to help explain exactly what is involved in working here. It would be funny if it wasn't my life.

The process to get an initial visa into Sudan consists of :
1) Approval by HAC Director General and Approval by HAC Security Dept was1 day to several weeks is now 3 weeks to I month (cost still free)
2) Approval by Immigration was 1 - 2 weeks is now 3 days (cost was US$ 50 now US$ 46)
3) Approval by Foreign Ministry was 1- 2 weeks now 3 days (cost stillfree)
4) Visa stamp in passport in Sudanese Embassy (US$ 55-100)

Once a temporary visa is granted and staff arrive in Khartoum NGOs need tochange this to a longer term stay visa and work permit. These have to berenewed each time the ?Moratorium? is extended and requires the following:
1) Initial Registration Dept of Interior still 1 day (cost was US$ 30 nowUS$ 41)
2) Approval by HAC Director General and Approval by HAC Security Dept was1 day to several weeks now 7 days (cost free)
3) HIV/AIDS test or exemption for first time only still 1 day.
4) Work permit Ministry of Labour was 1 - 5 days now 7 days to 1 ?2months (cost was US$ 75 now US$ XXX) (Can be valid for up to a year)
5) Approval by Immigration was 1 - 2 weeks now 2 weeks (cost was US$ 100)

Both with a temporary stay or a longer term visas you also need a travelpermit to get to Darfur. This requires the following:
1) Approval by HAC Director General 1 day - several weeks (Free)
2) Approval by HAC Security Dept 1 day to several weeks (Free)
3) Issuing of ID HAC card / permit in Khartoum 2 days (US$ 10) (not beingdone now)

Another requirement for travel out of the country is the exit and re-entryvisa which is only valid for one trip. Each of these require the following:
1) Approval by HAC Director General 1 day - several weeks (Free)
2) Approval by HAC Security Dept 1 day to several weeks (Free)3) Tax clearance 1 day (US$ 1)
3) Approval by Immigration 1 - 2 weeks (US$ 87)

Should staff finish their contracts and intend to leave Sudan NGOs alsoneed to pay for a final exit visa1 day ? 1 week (US$ 48)Yet one more permit required is the state HAC card which allows NGO staffto travel out of the state capital. This was previously issued for a yearbut recently is also linked to the extension of moratorium. Recently HACin South Darfur has said that it needs to be paid US$ 10 per staff member(national and international). If this is applied and extended to the restof Darfur would result in an additional cost of nearly US$ 130,000

I'm not sure which is better, that I have to get a visa to LEAVE the country or that it could take any where from 4 days to 4 months to complete the process...by offical guidelines.

So if anyone is interested in visited just let me know and I will see what I can do for 2008!

Distain for Important People

Darfur is a mess. I understand that to anyone who reads this blog with any type of regularity this is becoming a redundant statement. But let me provide the quick run down: more NGO trucks are stolen each week, our staff was robbed at gunpoint in the field, the government has bombed the Jebel Marra region in which we work and displaced over 130,000 people, we can’t reach our project areas in the south due to insecurity, and it appears that nearly every rebel group in Darfur is about to splinter into a million gun toting pieces. All of these things, added to the normal difficulties of working here, are making our jobs increasingly more frustrating.

So what would the answer to this be…how about a high level visit by our politically incorrect CEO, a former US senator, an ambassador, and just for a kicks lets through in a few high ranking government officials as icing on the cake. As the casual observer might guess, a visit like this is a bit of a security nightmare. But I suppose it would all be worth it if they where coming to visit our projects, discuss on the ground issues, and offer us their support and gratitude for our work here…if that’s what they where coming to do. But important people, like the above list, don’t do things like that. They prefer to fly all the way to Darfur to visit for 5 hours on the ground, stay at the most expensive hotel in the capitol, have a meeting with one man, and take pictures of suffering African IDPs in an area we don’t even work. And important people want snacks at our office so they can make a bathroom break, and need refreshments in our trucks that should be in the field, and they want you to walk up and shake their hand in a sense of awe and wonder as though you actually give a shit that they have chosen to speak to you. Lets not even get into the fact that we have had to postpone nearly all of our projects (i.e. dying IDPs in the mountains) in order to arrange all of this, or the enormous cost of flying the important entourage from the US to Darfur, or even the several years of life span that have been taken away from the head of mission due to the amount of stress and pressure placed on his shoulders from his superiors. All I’m asking for is bit of respect, maybe a thank you, and good work…maybe they could take the time to learn our names (although there are 7 of us, so I understand that’s a stretch)*

Maybe it’s all worth it in the end. Maybe we will get a whole lot more money to help people who desperately need it. Maybe their classically posed photos holding yet another dying African child will awaken the conscience of the world. And maybe these important people are really nice if you just get to know them. But in the short term I am glad their gone, I wished they never would have come, and I hope they don’t return. If this is humanitarian work then I’m out.

*insert sarcasm here