Darfur refugees trade aid for luxuries

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

BORO MEDINA, Sudan (AFP) — Relief workers may battle chronic insecurity to deliver aid to the tens of thousands displaced by the Darfur war, but recipients in this southern Sudanese market trade handouts for luxuries.

Having scrambled for newly arrived aid, Darfuris taking refuge in the desolate Boro Medina camp in Western Bahr el-Ghazal state carry off the booty to barter for something tastier at the local trading post.

There are no tarpaulins in the camp, home to 3,000 men, women and children from African tribes who fled the conflict in western Sudan, but many prefer to sleep under wattle-and-reed shelters and exchange the canvas for meat.

"What is the point of eating sorghum (a staple crop in relief packages) when you can sell and buy meat?" said a...