by PATRICK LEJTENYI

It's been called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today, but if not for the noise certain non-governmental organizations have been kicking up about it, the global community may never have known, much less cared, about the ethnic cleansing - or, according to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, genocide - in Darfur, west Sudan.

The NGO leading the call for aid to Darfur has been Médecins Sans Frontières-Doctors Without Borders (MSF). MSF have been in-country, in various capacities, for over 20 years, but since last fall they've scaled up their operations in the region. They became fully operational in February 2004 and since then have been treating around

one million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan and 200,000 refugees in Chad.

By now, accounts of the atrocities committed by the Sudanese army and its auxiliary bands of horse- and camel-mounted Arab nomad militias known as the Janjaweed, are well documented. On a mission to crush two black African independence-minded rebel groups in the vast, arid province the size of France, the army and the Janjaweed have razed hundreds of villages and slaughtered thousands of innocents. Rape has been used systematically, and reports of branding victims like cattle are not uncommon. In the 18 months the conflict has been raging, an estimated 50,000 people - at least - have died.

The death toll is looking to skyrocket. Measles, malnutrition, malaria and a host of other diseases will kill thousands more. USAID, the American government international aid department, estimates that 300,000 may die by year's end.

Officialdom's stonewall

Two people who have witnessed the crisis first-hand are Montrealers Patrick Lemieux and Patrick Robitaille. Lemieux, 34, coordinated MSF's activities in South Darfur from their headquarters in the regional capital, Nyala. Robitaille, 29, worked logistics from across the border in Chad. Both are experienced MSF volunteers who have worked in the world's troublespots, from Sierra Leone to Pakistan. Neither are doctors. Next Wednesday, Sept. 29, the two will, along with UNICEF's Nicole Ireland, give a talk at McGill entitled "The Crisis in Sudan: Reports From the Front Lines." Sitting in MSF's Montreal office on Sherbrooke E., Lemieux and Robitaille appear relaxed and in good humour, and speak of their experiences calmly.

"In the nine missions I've been on, this one was the toughest," says Lemieux. Not only for the inhospitable living conditions, with west Sudan's searing heat and sand in food, water and clothing, but also the Sudanese government's intransigence and lack of cooperation, the delays in clearing vital equipment and its backing of the ethnic cleansing in the first place all made access to the worst-hit regions difficult.

Sitting at a computer, Lemieux uploads over 100 photographs - many of them taken illicitly, as the government prevents outsiders from taking pictures - of vehicles rented by MSF. They are old, run-down, and don't have gas gauges or odometers. He pulls up another, of seven new Landrovers, sparkling white and factory new. "These were stuck at the airport in Nyala for a month," he says.

Besides treating IDPs for everything from bullet wounds to malaria, Lemieux says getting the word out to the world was a daunting task. Because MSF take their advocacy and lobbying as seriously as they do their medical treatment, staffers were often confronted with the difficult choice of actively spreading the word about the region's horrors or getting expelled from the country. "Lobbying and testimony are part of our rules of engagement, if you will," he says. "But because of the government's position, we were not entitled to give live interviews, we weren't allowed to be quoted. In Darfur, you have to add to the fact that if you open your mouth you'll be in a lot of trouble. When we do do it, it's weighed against the negative impact it will have. Instead of taking three weeks for your visa, for some reason it takes six weeks."

Trauma every day

The situation was somewhat better in Chad, Robitaille says. It was there that the crisis was first being managed from a relief point of view, and there they were able to transport refugees to camps further away from the border, out of direct harm's way. Also, doctors didn't do as much trauma work there.

"In Chad, we had very few war wounds coming in, because it's a very long distance to walk," says Robitaille. "It was very rare that people [suffering from combat wounds] would make it. But rape is another thing."

Both saw thousands of women who had been raped by both the Janjaweed and the Khartoum troops. "They're Muslim women, so it's a huge taboo," says Robitaille. "For these people, most of whom had never even seen a white person before, there was an issue of trust that had to be overcome."

"Rape is definitely used systematically, as a weapon, just like a hand grenade or a gun, to wipe out the livelihood of these villages," says Lemieux. Working in Darfur itself, he saw all manner of trauma, and heard worse - stories of mothers being forced to choose how their child will die, of massacres of men, women and children, of everything from bombs to cars to old ovens being thrown down on a village from planes. "Basically, they destroy their tools, destroy all their cattle or livestock, they'll destroy your food reserves," he says. "They will contaminate your water sources. There are so many stories I've heard of kids being slashed then thrown in the well to contaminate it. Then there's the stigma that will prevent villagers from using that water because 17 children were thrown in there and a grenade was launched down."

Helping hands

Neither have any immediate plans to go back to work with MSF, but hope to remain involved in some way. "I'll definitely succumb to the temptation again," says Robitaille, about to enter a master's program in political science at UQÀM.

"Working for MSF is a bit of a drug for me," says Lemieux. He says he will go back for sure, but in the immediate future, he plans to look for a bit of stability here at home. "But I will definitely go off with them in the future."

"The Crisis in the Sudan: Reports from the Front Lines" will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 5 p.m–7 p.m. at McGill's New Chancellor Day Hall (3644 Peel). Médecins Sans Frontières are recruiting medical personnel, especially those with emergency experience. For more info, contact Martin Girard at 845-5621 or visit www.msf.ca