In Darfur, the story is one of pain and desperation for nearly two million displaced persons, and organizations that work in the area are convinced that clashes about water and pasture sparked off the present crisis in the area.

"It all started when the Janjaweed began burning villages before taking control of the water points," says Ismail Algazouli, an engineer with the Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO). Algazouli was referring to the militia that has been accused of many killings in the region.

Together with Norwegian Church Aid and the Sudan Council of Churches, SUDO has been providing water and education in Darfur with support from Action by Churches Together (ACT) and Caritas Internationalis.

Algazouli was speaking at a May 21-25 conference in Entebbe, the Ugandan capital, organized by the Ecumenical Water Network. Various Christian agencies and movements formed the network to raise the awareness of churches about the urgency of issues linked to water.

The Darfur conflict was triggered, Algazouli said, by clashes over access to water and pasture between small groups of black African farmers and Arab pastoral communities. Gradually the groups grew bigger and the clashes more frequent. The turning point came in 2003 when powerful leaders in the Janjaweed militia sought help from their government allies; this gave the conflict a new dimension.

"The militia, who are believed to have the support of the government, would frighten off the local people. Once they fled their homes, the Janjaweed would take possession of the water points for their own livestock," said Algazouli. The Janjaweed have millions of animals and it is not easy to find enough water for them, he explained.

For nearly three years the Janjaweed -- "the men on horseback" -- have clashed with members of local communities, with the result that thousands of people have sought refuge in camps on Sudan's border with Chad.

Although Darfur might seem to be an isolated case, experts at the Entebbe water conference warned that the danger of similar conflicts elsewhere cannot be ignored. Church delegates working at the grassroots reported that they have to grapple with the fear of bigger conflicts, and that small clashes have multiplied.

Only eight months ago, a violent conflict over land and resources was sparked off in a settlement scheme known as Chepyuk, in the Mount Elgon region of Kenya. "The conflict is around access to land and water, which is fast diminishing," said the Rev. Maritim Rirei, an Anglican Church of Kenya program coordinator in the Eldoret region, where the church has been running peace programs.

Over this period, an estimated 60,000 people were displaced, hundreds of homes destroyed and 35 schools closed down. About 200 people have been killed and 300 arrested in government attempts to settle the conflict. "This means that members of these displaced communities will lack access to safe and sufficient quantities of water," said Rirei.

Over the last 30 years, the population has doubled in the region, and this has exerted pressure on limited resources. In the same period, streams and rivers in the area have diminished in volume, forcing, for example, a community known as the Soy to move up the mountain where soil is more fertile and springs are still fresh. Between 1965 and 1989, however, the government twice moved the Soy down the mountain. The slopes were left to the Dorobo, a hunter-gatherer community subsisting on honey and wild fruits, and pasturing a few animals on the mountain moorland.

"There has been a craze to have land on the mountain. The catalyst has been the abundant springs, fertile soils and good rains," explained Rirei. "This is a water catchment area that serves the people in western Kenya."

Rirei said that due to the visible negative impact on water sources on the mountain, the government began to resettle the mountain communities, and this triggered the conflict. About 1,700 households have been re-settled but another 5,800 lack land. Young people from the communities that received land have grouped themselves into a militia called the Saboat Land Defence Force, whose violent actions are destabilizing the area.

Peace program coordinator Rirei says that both women and children have been attacked while drawing water or watering their animals at springs or shallow wells, and this has forced them to abandon their homes and seek refuge in churches and schools.

The churches, according to Rirei, are carrying the burden of having to protect water sources and, at the same time, resettle the displaced people. "We are in double jeopardy. We have to work in such a way that we can protect the water catchment areas and, at the same time, help these people," Rirei told participants at the ecumenical water conference.

Having witnessed the impacts of small conflicts, church leaders and related organizations are worried about Africa's large fresh water areas. It is feared that disputes centered on the River Nile, for example, could spark off a regional conflict, as countries attempt to pipe water or generate development projects around the river. "The waters of the Nile are extremely sensitive," said Abiy Hailu of the British aid and development agency, Christian Aid.

Hailu explained that while 10 countries in Africa share the Nile's water, Egypt appears to enjoy exclusive rights to this immense resource. "Any time a country plans to use the water, tensions rise," he noted.

Despite mounting tensions around water resources, church leaders are convinced that even the Nile can be a unifying element for the countries through which the river passes.

"We must not forget that water has always connected people and brought them together," said Danuta Sacher, head of the policy and campaigns department at the German aid agency Bread for the World.

In a final statement, conference participants affirmed that solutions to settle conflicts needed to involve the affected populations and to be based on respect for the right to water of all the people involved. Much will depend, the statement said, on the willingness of governments to deal openly and fairly with water issues, and to prioritize the rights of the poorest and most vulnerable people.

Links:

Full text of EWN conference statement.

Ecumenical Water Network.