In Darfur, handpumps are on the frontline of peacebuilding

Ever since December when government soldiers overran the town of Tawila, burning homes and ruining wells, the pump has been the only source of safe water for kilometres around. It has become a commodity so valued that residents and soldiers alike fight -- and sometimes kill -- to quench their thirst. Indeed, this particular handpump has been the site of numerous rapes, beatings, and at least three deaths, including of soldiers shot by rebels.

Full story by Dorn Townsend, UNICEF, 26 January 2006 via ReliefWeb.



Photo: Waiting at the well - Naga, Sudan.
Courtesy www.markpelletierphotography.com/photo_galleries.htm (Sudan Watch archive)