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Civil Society Civilian Component

Civil Society in SADC is honoured to have participated in Exercise Golfinho under the auspices of the SADC Council of NGOs. The civil society civilian component was composed of 11 delegates. The team had a Coordinating Centre manned by three people responsible for overall coordination, logistics management and operations support to the entire team. The rest of the team is composed of individuals from local organizations working in various member states with various specialities and expertise, to mention but a few, gender, child protection, human rights, humanitarian services and peace building.

Enabled by the generous support from the Head of Mission through the Head of the Civil Component and his staff, the civil society civilian team deployed missions to all the Sectors this report outlines the observations, intervention made by the team on the ground, lessons learned as well as the proposed plan of action after the whole exercise.

Key observations

The team had a primary mandate to consolidate the rapid assessments of the needs and situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); collaborate and complement civilians from member states and ICRC in responding to the situation on the ground. Through out the exercise the field workers in liaison with the civilians worked in all sectors being: 1, 2, and 3, whereby they noted the following:

Sector 1

•  IDPs were picketing and demonstrating that some people, possibly the SADC Standby force, had stolen their God (an idol they cherished) and were not interested in working with the SADC standby Force, until they ‘bring back' their God.

•  The humanitarian situation had to a noticeable extent been addressed by other stakeholders, especially in the areas of combating cholera, malaria, provision of tents, toilets and waters. The IDPs however felt that they needed more food, blankets and water tablets. They also requested the SADC standby force to be close to them to prevent rebels from attacking them.

•  Women that had been raped not only needed medical attention but also counselling and other psychosocial support. So was the situation with the child.

•  The special needs of women, such as sanitary ware, counsel from rape, abuse and trauma had not been fully addressed. SADC-CNGO will deploy its gender team to look into the issue.

•  Most IDPs were deeply traumatized and were thus vulnerable to further emotional stress

•  Some people incurred minor injuries when the riot police quelled protests against SADC Standby force

 

Interventions made

Field operations in Sector 1

The SADC-CNGOs deployed teams of relief and humanitarian organizations to sector 1 to work with community based organizations, in order to provide humanitarian services as requested the previous week by the IDPs Specifically, the civil society mission did the following:

  • Provided humanitarian services based on a joint humanitarian assessment done in partnership with the World Food Programme and UNICEF
    • Sanitary ware for women
    • Food for all IDPs in the camp
    • Detergents to kill germs in toilets
    • Spray to quell communication
    • Water in tankers.
  • Researched on cultural issues in so far as they relate to peace and potential conflict in Lohatlha. The research will be shared with the SADC Mediation Unit.
  • Provided psychosocial support in the form of playing cards, newspapers and magazines to avoid boredom and reduce anxiety about the separation of IDPs from their families.
  • A meeting was held with the Heads of the Police, Military and Civilian Component of the SADC Standby Force in order to ensure collaborative interventions.

The team was not able to address the reintegration issue as well as the sensitisation of the IDP community; this was because of the media demonstration which took place in the sector.

It is also worth noting that the team had been working in collaboration with the police and civilian component to carry out civic education on Gender, Human Rights and Domestic Violence as an aftermath to the war. SADC –CNGO realised that the IDPs were satisfied with what they had been given and they was moral within them. This community was also sensitised on the need for dialogue to resolve issues as opposed to the riots which transpired between themselves and the police.

Sector 2

In response to circular B7/02, from the Mission HQ, in which a request for intervention by Humanitarian agencies in IDP Camp PRITCHARDSTAT was made by the SADC Standby Force, the SADC-CNGO deployed a humanitarian team to Sector 2. In collaboration with the Military, Police and Civilian component of the SADC Standby Force, the NGO team did the following

  • Team consisting of Child Protection, Human Rights and Humanitarian relief was deployed to Sector 2, unfortunately they were too late on arrival to connect with transport to the IDP camp because the vehicle going there had already left. Hence the SADC-CNGO revisited the sector on the 18 th of September 2009.
  • Civic education on a number of areas including HIV and AIDS, politics, elections ,respect for human rights during time of conflict e.t.c
  • Provided humanitarian services (Water, health services, and food): Approached the SA Army and worked well.
  • Provided counselling to victims of sexual abuse

•  The IDPs were also emotionally wounded and were really worried about what had become of their families

•  The humanitarian situation in the Camp, had not improved significantly. The following needs were noted:

•  Blankets

•  Tents

•  Food

•  Separate toilets for men and women

•  Clean water

Sector 3

Two members of the NGOs were deployed to sector three on the 17 th and they left at 8:30pm and arrived at 9:45pm. They were briefed on what has been taking place in the sector that SADC Standby Force in the sector had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with one group and that peace had been re established in the area. The SADC–CNGO concurred with the civilian component in the sector and that if the action could encourage peace in the area it could be the right approach if both partiues are to be involved in the signing. It was a question of judgement of the sector leaders.

However the sector leaders were afraid that disturbances in sector 2 will spill over into sector 3 where peace had been established. it was therefore decided that a joint mission composed of the military, the police, the civilian component and the NGOs should visit sector 2 to consult with Standby Force leaders in that sector. The joint mission proceeded to sector 3 but they ended up in sector 1. They then proceeded to sector 3 where they met with the SADC leaders in that sector. Unfortunately sector 2 had not been informed of that visit. However the joint team explained to the sector 2 leaders that their aim was to ensure cooperation between the two sectors. The leaders of sector 2 gave a briefing to the fact that an MoU had been signed by the belligerents and that peace had now been established. They stated that 48hours before the signing of the MoU there had been a lot of disturbances in the sector. Now that an MoU had been signed such disturbances had ended.

  Interventions made

In sector 1: The SADC-CNGO provided counselling to the IDPs, after getting permission from the Chief, distributed some food, water tablets and engaged the Chief in order to understand their culture and how best the NGOs could promote their culture. The SADC-CNGO shared its findings and other concerns raised by IDPs with the Sector Head of civilians. It also exchanged notes with other stakeholders, including the engineers who were doing demining in around the IDP camp

Apart from onsite counselling, the mission was largely a rapid assessment. The actual interventions were delivered the following week.

All developments and findings at Sector level were shared with the Head of the Civilian Component of the SADC-Stand By Force through the Head of the Civil Society Civilian Mission.

Lessons learned on the exercise

•  Civilians, who get into areas of conflict, including IDP camps, should be advised that they have functional communication with the head office and other stakeholders. One of the SADC-CNGO team got lost and could not reach the intended destination until after 3 and ½ hours, with nobody knowing where they where.

•  It is important for NGOs and other stakeholders to engage people affected by war through their local leadership

•  Peace keeping missions including NGOs must make a deliberate attempt to understand issues of culture and religion as potential sources of conflict, noting the scenario in sector 1.

•  There is need for close cooperation between the military, police, civilians and civil society when making interventions

•  It is important for peace keeping missions to have social workers who will stay for a relatively long period with IDPs to provide psychosocial support

•  There is need for close cooperation amongst civilians from member states, UN agencies, NGOs and local communities in the process of helping people affected by war.

  • Where there is collaboration amongst all stakeholders (Military, Police, Civilians and members of the community) the peace keeping missions are likely to succeed smoothly with great impact as evidenced in sector 1 and 2 – where SADC-CNGO deployed its people on the 16 th of September 2009.
  • The issue of language, given that some SADC countries speak Portuguese and French should be addressed if effective communication and collaboration is to take place within the SADC Peace Keeping Missions. Mechanisms should thus be put in place to ensure that the Standby Force bond and work together for synergy building.
  • There is need to effectively plan the logistics including issues of vehicles for timely and effective responses, this includes ensuring that NGOs enhance their own capacities, particularly in the area of mobility and communication.
  • The issue of the role of women in peace keeping mission, given that they are generally the hardest hit by conflicts, needs to be revisited in SADC Peace keeping missions
  • There is need for all actors including civilians to understand the operations of each as a prerequisite for effective collaboration.
  • All people who are deployed to peace keeping missions need sufficient debriefing not only on the situation on the ground but also on the expected roles, requisite inputs and capacities for effective operations.
  • All components worked as a team in carrying out the investigations on the missing idol.
  • When responses are timely met to the IDPs, confidence is built.

 

Plans for the future

Based on assessments made, the SADC-CNGO proposes to do the following

•  Liaise with the WFP, ICRC and other stakeholders in order to do a joint humanitarian programme to avoid duplication of effortS

•  Deploy social workers and health workers to monitor the situation each day in collaboration with human rights officers.

•  Liaise with the military, police and civilians from member states to ascertain the situation of the relatives of the people in IDP Camps

•  Refer the situation of the Orphans in all sectors to the relevant authorities for special care and support

•  Work with civilians from member states to get particulars and cases of each IDP for submission to the relevant authorities in order to inform the repatriation programme and further support that may be required by IDPs

•  Together with civilians from member states, the SADC-CNGOs will develop a repatriation and re-integration programme in close consultation with the Standby Force and other stakeholders.

Recommendations

  • In future it will be advisable for the SADC-CNGO team to come with their own transport so that they do not overburden the limited transport the SADC mission has.
  • If the civilian component of the mission as well as the SADC-CNGO team were to be effective it is necessary that they travel in neutral vehicles and not in military vehicles or in vehicles displaying a SADC flag.
  • Effective interventions depend on effective communication between sectors as well as between sectors and head quarters. This seemed to have been a problem at least in sector 2 and sector 3 during the visit reported above.

  Conclusion

The transport, logistics and facilitation of the Head of the Civilian Component, transport officer, Military in providing escort and other stakeholders is highly appreciated, without which the Civil Society mission would not be a success. Special thanks also go to the Sector and Civilian Heads in the sectors we visited, our able and courteous drivers and the logistics staff at sector level. The SADC-CNGOs re-affirm their commitment to complementing the SADC-Standby force in its peace building efforts. We appreciate the joint efforts put up by all members of the standby force.