Turkish aid agency sets sights on Darfur, South Sudan

By Abdullah Uluyurt

KHARTOUM, Sudan

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) is sparing no effort to help the people of Darfur and South Sudanese refugees, Celalettin Gungenci, TIKA’s coordinator in Khartoum, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Struggling with famine, drought and civil war, many South Sudanese have fled north to Sudan, millions of whom are now seeking shelter in Sudan’s already-troubled Darfur region, Gungenci said.

TIKA’s Khartoum office, the aid worker explained, is working hard to help the region’s poor by carrying out projects across Darfur with a view to providing them with better health, education and water access.

"According to Sudanese officials, TIKA has helped provide employment in the region and now plays a crucial role in combatting famine," Gungenci said.

"Our activities also serve to improve the perception of Turkey among the local community through projects carried out under the auspices of the Turkish presidency," he added.

He pointed in particular to the Nyala Turkey-Sudan Training and Research Hospital, construction of which was overseen by TIKA and which now serves some 120,000 patients.

"It also treats patients from other countries, including Gambia, Senegal and Chad," he said.

What’s more, Gungenci noted, TIKA is also conducting health-screening programs for South Sudanese refugees who have recently arrived in Sudan.

"We are also providing medical support to those who have been transferred from refugee camps to our hospital," he said.

"Our aim is to show Turkey’s compassion for the struggling people of Darfur and South Sudan," he added.

According to Gungenci, some 300 tons of fruit and vegetable seeds were recently distributed to poor Sudanese under an ongoing TIKA initiative.

Stressing that the project was aimed at connecting the people to their respective homelands, he asserted that 500,000 Darfurians -- who rely on agriculture to survive -- “were not forced to migrate thanks to our program”.

The Turkish official went on to point out that Sudan was a country of “massive agricultural potential”.

"We are now planning to train and equip local people to pursue projects in beekeeping and fruit and vegetable growing," he said. "Meanwhile, we’re providing refugee camps with food aid and assistance in digging water wells."

He added: "But our main goal is to provide them with permanent educational institutions.”

-Empowering women

According to Gungenci, TIKA now plans to launch a new project aimed at empowering South Sudanese women living in refugee camps.

"Millions of South Sudanese, most of whom are women, have recently migrated north to Sudan due to famine and drought in their home country,” he said. “That's why this project will be so important."

"Within the framework of this program, we plan to provide women in the camps with fabric and sewing machines so that they might realize self-sufficiency," he added.

"Once the Turkish presidency approves the project, it can enter the implementation phase," Gungenci told Anadolu Agency.

Noting the increasing maternal death rate in rural areas of Sudan and in refugee camps, Gungenci said the phenomenon could be combated by training local women in the art of midwifery.

"That’s why, since 2014, the TIKA Sudan Midwife Training Center has been teaching local women how to safely deliver babies," he added.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this report from Ankara