TESTIMONY OF DAOUD IBRAHIM HARI
House Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
Hearing "World Refugee Day 2007: Addressing the Needs of African Refugees"
June 20, 2007
Thank you for inviting me to speak today on World Refugee Day. I want to thank the whole Committee and in particular its Chairman Donald Payne and Representative Chris Smith for your hard work helping to protect African refugees.
My name is Daoud Ibrahim Hari. I am one of the millions of refugees from Darfur, one of the world's greatest humanitarian crises. However, I am one of the luckiest refugees from Darfur since the United States selected me for resettlement this year.
I am only the third Darfuri refugee in the United States. I arrived here on March 15, 2007.
From 2004 to 2006, I worked as an interpreter for the international media and NGOs in Chad and traveled to Darfur because I wanted to help get the word out about the genocide and refugee crisis of my people. I risked my life through this work and was arrested, imprisoned and tortured by the government of Sudan with The Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek on assignment for The National Geographic. After 35 days in jail, I owe our freedom to the many United States politicians who forced the government of Sudan to liberate us. However, my problems got worse when I returned to Chad which forced me to flee to Ghana to be processed by the United States as a refugee.
I know what life is like for refugees in the camps. I myself lived in 13 camps in Chad from 2003 to 2004. We refugees had major problems with access to clean water, health care, firewood and education. Security was our biggest problem. The Janjaweed attacked the refugee camps and people were kidnapped, raped and killed. There was no hope for me and other refugees to have real freedom and safety.
These problems in the camps continued even until when I left Chad in 2006. I know this from my travels with the journalists and NGOs. The numbers of Darfuri refugees in Eastern Chad and the Central African Republic was increasing daily and many were threatened and killed by the Janjaweed and Chadian civilian IDPs. I met with countless women who lost their husbands and children who lost their parents in the genocide. I remember one refugee woman who fled Darfur to Chad carrying her seven month baby boy for a day and a half. She was crying constantly. Her baby boy was dead, killed by the Janjaweed. This woman could not believe that her baby boy was dead and did not want to bury him. Her baby boy was the last hope she had on this planet.
I hope the world listens and understands the crisis of my people. The solution for refugees is not keeping them in camps for years. Refugees need and deserve opportunities to integrate and participate in society and find real safety and improve their lives. Refugees also need resettlement to other countries as a solution. I thank America for protecting me but I cry and pray for other refugees in need of protection.
Thank you for listening to me. Please continue to help refugees. I look forward to your questions.
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