APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 96 96 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE AND COMPLEMENTARITIES: THE CONFLICT’S INDIRECT IMPACT ON PASTORALISTS The displacement of hundreds of thousands of settled African peasant farmers throughout Darfur dramatically altered the region’s demographic and socio-economic landscape. While the loss of security and prevailing lawlessness have prevented the majority of displaced peasant farmers from returning to their villages to lead normal lives, the abandonment of farming and the desertion of villages has similarly caused great damage to the lives and livelihoods of pastoralists. This stems primarily from the interdependence of the local economies of the two groups. Before the government counterinsurgency campaign emptied Darfur’s countryside of its settled peasant population, pastoralists depended on these farming communities for food supplies and other goods and services. Few pastoralists practiced farming or produced their own grain. Village markets dotted corridors used by the pastoralists, providing them grain and other food items at restocking points while they were on the move. This system became both convenient and economical in its evolution. Pastoralists did not need to travel long distances in rural Darfur, nor did they need to carry large stocks of grain and other food items with them during their search for pasture and water. The destruction of farming and the displacement of peasants created grain scarcities and hindered pastoralists’ access to this staple. The result has created severe food insecurity that went unnoticed by most humanitarian agencies and organizations. Despite some attempts to produce grain themselves, pastoralists could not overcome the acute food shortage. Insecurity and transport difficulties exacerbated grain scarcity, leading to soaring prices.26 Disruption of movement, high transport costs, the need to pay for protection, and the risk associated with the general conditions of insecurity combined to also raise the price of grain that could be transported into rural Darfur.27 Robbers and bandits often attacked traders, and men who provided armed protection for traders imposed high fees. Armed men also demanded fees from traders at crossing points. As a result, the number of traders decreased during the post-2003 period, with negative implications for grain supplies and grain prices.28 In response to the grain shortage, pastoralists developed a tendency to stay close to towns and large rural centers. This, however, led to animal overcrowding and increased ease of disease transmission, along with depletion of green cover, poor pasturing, and intensification of competition over limited resources, all of which sometimes caused intra-pastoralist conflict and violence.29 Peasant villages and the markets along passage corridors offered pastoralists, in addition to grain supplies, convenient access to other necessary items, such as soap, cooking oil, matches, kerosene, clothing, and shoes. Under the conditions of insecurity following the outbreak of conflict, pastoralists had to travel long distances to get 26. Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme, ‘Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Sudan’, FAO and WFP, Rome, 2006, 23. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/j7072e/j707 2e00.pdf. 27. Informal interview, Abdel Gabar A Fadl, lecturer and researcher at the University of El Fashir, El Fashir, July 2006; interview, Abdel Gadir Adam. 28. World Food Programme and UNICEF, ‘Emergency food security and nutrition assessment in Darfur, Sudan 2005’, Rome, 2006, 52. 29. Interview, Shartai Yagoub.