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Food Aid in Sudan

Food Aid in Sudan

Susanne Jaspars

(2018)

Abstract

In 2004, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan called Darfur the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. A comprehensive food aid programme soon followed, at the time the largest in the world. Yet by 2014, while the crisis continued, international agencies found they had limited access to much of the population, with the Sudanese regime effectively controlling who received aid. As a result, acute malnutrition remains persistently high.

Food Aid in Sudan argues that the situation in Sudan is emblematic of a far wider problem. Analysing the history of food aid in the country over fifty years, Jaspars shows that such aid often serves to enrich local regimes and the private sector while leaving war-torn populations in a state of permanent emergency. Drawing on her decades of experience as an aid worker and researcher in the region, and extensive interviews with workers in the food aid process, Jaspars brings together two key topics of our time: the failure of the humanitarian system to respond to today’s crises, and the crisis in the global food system.

Essential reading for students and researchers across the social sciences studying the nature and effectiveness of contemporary humanitarianism, development and international aid.


Susanne Jaspars has worked in the field of humanitarian aid for over thirty years, both as a practitioner and researcher. She has worked for Medecins sans Frontieres, Oxfam, and the World Food Programme, in countries across east and central Africa. She has also conducted research for the Overseas Development Institute, and currently serves on the editorial board of the International Humanitarian Studies Association. Her previous works include Nutrition Matters: People, Food and Famine (co-authored with Helen Young, 1995).

'A superb account of the intertwining of nutritional science, politics and humanitarian crisis in Sudan over fifty years. This is an essential book for all students of humanitarianism.'
Alex de Waal, co-author of Darfur: A Short History of a Long War

‘Jaspers has written a singular, important and challenging book. Indeed, I cannot speak too highly of this major work. This book deserves to become a classic within the humanitarian field and demands to be widely read.’
Mark Duffield, author of Global Governance and the New Wars

‘Provides crucial insights into how food aid has shaped power relations in Sudan. A timely and meticulous contribution towards understanding the politics of food insecurity and the processes of aid provision.’
Zoë Marriage, SOAS, University of London

‘Brilliantly and disturbingly demonstrates how a range of self-interests and shifting orthodoxies have combined to create the virtual abandonment of a highly distressed population in Darfur.’
David Keen, London School of Economics


Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover
About the author ii
Title Page iii
Copyright iv
Contents v
List of tables and illustrations vii
Abbreviations viii
Acknowledgements x
Preface xii
1. Introduction: food aid and power 1
The crisis in Sudan 1
What is food aid? 5
Analysing food aid, power and governance 11
Food aid in Sudan 17
The challenges of fieldwork in Sudan 19
2. From managing states and supporting livelihoods to abandoning populations 22
Managing states: food aid to strengthen states and benefit donors 23
Managing lives: food aid to save lives and protect livelihoods 28
Abandoning populations: food aid, global instability and resilience 41
Conclusions 61
3. Food aid in Sudan: government and private sector response 64
Sudan’s protracted crisis: food, governance and inequality 65
The early years of food aid in Sudan: urban food subsidies, uneven development and refugees 74
Changes in quantities and types of international food aid in Sudan 79
The famines of the 1980s and the manipulation of food aid 82
Islamism, self-sufficiency and war 85
Control over international agencies and the Sudanisation of food aid 94
Conclusions 103
4. The effects of food aid practices in North Darfur 105
An overview of drought, famine and conflict in North Darfur 110
Food aid in response to drought and famine (the 1980s and 1990s) 115
The Darfur crisis: food aid in the early years (2003–07) 128
The later years (2008–14): reduced food aid and access restrictions 134
Indirect effects of reduced food aid 143
Are people still coping? 149
Conclusions 151
5. Perceptions of food aid: politics, dependency and denial of permanent emergency 153
A country of food aid experts 154
The government view of food aid 159
International agencies: de-politicisation and abandonment 162
International agencies: the denial of permanent emergency 167
Alternative perceptions of food aid: politics, war and economic benefits 171
Conclusions 180
6. Conclusions 182
What brought about change? 184
Continuities? 188
Impact of food aid practices in Sudan’s protracted emergency 192
Implications for humanitarian and food aid operations 196
Appendix 1: Chronology of key political events in Sudan 203
Notes 212
References 218
Index 241