Seeing it through: peacebuilding in the Sudan/Chad borderland.

Concordis’ peacebuilders work across the borderlands of central Africa. We’ve gained a strong reputation for finding effective solutions and generating lasting change.

We have been asked to help with activities that sit outside our funded programme, but it is a request we need to take up to be true to our promise: to walk with communities for as long as it takes to build sustainable peace.

The place is the Sudanese border town of Um Dukhun, where Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic meet. Over the border in Chad, the Sila Province is coping with the consequences of a neighbour at war. There is a dangerous governance vacuum.  
 
Armed groups move freely. Young men are being recruited to traffic drugs and weapons. Cattle theft is rising. Criminal networks are exploiting the gaps. Chadian authorities are tightening controls in ways that hit locals hard. The traditional leaders who have kept the peace for decades are being asked to do a job that would stretch any formal government, with no resources and no backup. 
 
Meanwhile, the communities themselves are more dependent than ever on cross-border movement and trade. Since the war began, Sudanese families can no longer access medicine, fuel or basic food in their own country. Chadian markets are now their lifeline. Up to 30% of traders in Um Dukhun's market are Chadian. This is not convenience; it is survival. 

Acho Gerald, our Sudan Country Manager in South Darfur, said: "When I visited Um Dukhun last year, what stayed with me was not only the hardship, but their determination to protect relationships that have existed across this border for generations. Today, those relationships are under pressure. Your support of this work is investing in the local systems and people that continue to hold peace together." 

Why do we need your help? 
 
Because most of this work falls outside our programme funding. 
 
We have funding for the necessary peace conferences. But as important is the follow-through: holding people accountable, disseminating the decisions taken. From there: training in mediation, supporting a Peace Committee that everyone respects but nobody funds. Setting up a market management committee for Um Dukhun, so that, at least in the market, there will be governance and access to justice. 
 
Getting this right is the key to building lasting, sustainable peace and real change. 
 
The communities of Um Dukhun are not waiting for the war in Sudan to end. They know that could take years. They are trying to hold things together in the meantime — to keep trade moving, keep families connected, keep young men from picking up guns because they feel there’s no alternative.  
 
Young people need livelihoods that don't involve violence. Women who have lost husbands and sons need safe ways to earn a living. Farmers and herders need to know that when their cattle cross a border, there is a system in place, not just volatile suspicion. 
 
They are asking for our help. And we, in turn, are asking for yours.