Darfur 2010 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. World Conflicts
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Darfur is a desert region located in the far west of Sudan, the
biggest country in Africa.
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It is home to numerous tribal groups, many of which have a long
history of intermarriage and economic cooperation. All are black,
African, and Muslim.
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Since violence broke out in 2003, tribal groups have increasingly
identified themselves as either African or Arab. U.S. politicians,
journalists, and celebrities have also described Darfuris in these
terms.
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The roots of todays ongoing conflict date back to 1916, the year
British forces invaded Darfur to put down an uprising against
Sudans British and Egyptian rulers. Darfur at that time was an
autonomous region.
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After the war, British administrators made Darfur part of Sudan and
divided it into several regions, or dars.
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Each dar had a tribal leader and a tribal court, which resolved
disputes over water rights and land and animal ownership.
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Conflicts often broke out between herders (who were mostly Arabs)
and farmers (who were mostly Africans). The tribal courts prevented
these conflicts from getting out of hand.
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After the British left Sudan in 1956, competition for political
offices arose among Darfurs Arabs and Africans.
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The Arabs, who formed a slight majority, looked to elections as a
means of ending centuries of largely non-Arab rule, while the large
African tribes, notably the Fur, saw elections as a chance to
legitimize their historic hold on political power in Darfur.
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Electoral disputes soured relations between these groups. But no
outright tribal warfare erupted, with tensions eased by a relative
abundance of fertile land and by region-wide anger at the failure
of the Sudanese government in Khartoum to adequately fund programs
in Darfur.
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In the 1980s, a series of droughts in Darfur worsened inter-tribal
relations. As good agricultural land became scarce, African farmers
who had traditionally allowed Arab herders to graze cattle on their
farms began barring access.
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Stripped of their livelihood, many young Darfuri Arabs were
recruited by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. In the late 1980s, they
joined Arabs from other countries to fight for the establishment of
the Arab Belt, an Arab super-state spanning most of northern
Africa.
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Qaddafis Arabs were defeated by the Chadian army, leaving the
Darfuri Arabs to return to their homes with guns and a dangerous
ideology of Arab supremacy.
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Even while they fought each other, Darfuris from all tribes had
traditionally found common cause in resenting the Sudanese
government. This started to change in 1989, when Omar al-Bashir, an
Arab general, came to power in a coup.
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As president, Bashir surrounded himself by a cabal of ruthless,
power-hungry military men who believed passionately that Sudan, and
all its natural resources, belonged to the Arabs.
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In 1992, these men ordered the Sudanese military to work with Arab
militias in removing a non-Arab people, the Nuba, from a
mountainous region in southern Darfur.
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Six years later, they orchestrated a similarly brutal campaign to
take control of the oil fields in Sudans largely non-Arab southern
half.
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In 1999, a power struggle between President Bashir (left) and his
second-in-command Hassan al-Turabi (right) landed Turabi in jail.
Turabi had been instrumental in winning Darfuri support for
Khartoum. An influential Islamist ideologist, he had convinced
Darfuri Africans that they did not have to be Arabs to be good
Muslims.
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With Turabi gone, the few Darfuri Africans serving in Bashirs
government were quickly purged. They returned home to form one of
Darfurs two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement
(JEM).
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The other main rebel group was the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA).
In 2003, SLA rebels attacked government troops at Darfurs El Fasher
airport, demanding that Khartoum end its long neglect of the Darfur
region.
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Rather than deal with the rebels demands, the Sudanese government
armed Arab militias, the janjaweed, and charged them with putting
down the Darfuri uprising.
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Starting in the summer of 2003, the janjaweed rode into African
communities, killing and raping the inhabitants. Survivors fled in
terror.
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The lucky ones made it to refugee camps in Chad.
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Word of the atrocities spread in 2004, prompting the United Nations
Security Council to pass a resolution calling on the Sudanese
government to disarm the janjaweed.
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No punishment was threatened for non-compliance, and collaboration
between the Sudanese military and the janjaweed reportedly
continued. Thousands more Darfuri Africans died, and entire
villages were destroyed.
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Several thousand African Union troops arrived in 2004 and 2005 to
serve as peacekeepers.
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But, in a region bigger than California, there was a limit to what
they could achieve. Attacks by the janjaweed persisted, and refugee
camps filled up.
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Meanwhile, the rebelsnever angels but for a long time far less
violent than the janjaweed complicated prospects for peace by
fighting among themselves and attacking Arab herders and even some
international aid workers.
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Despite the mounting troubles, the Sudanese government and most of
the SLA faction signed a peace agreement on May 5, 2006.
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The agreement gave Darfuris much of what the rebels initially
wanted, including a US$300 million payment and the right to form a
regional government.
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But the JEM and a small faction of the SLA held out for more.
In-fighting among these groups and the failure of the Sudanese
government to rein in the janjaweed effectively killed the peace
agreement.
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A joint UN/AU peacekeeping mission was deployed to Darfur but could
do little to stop the Sudanese military and janjaweed militias in
pursuit of JEM rebels from killing civilians.
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The International Criminal Court indicted President Bashir for
genocide in 2008 and issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes
a year later. The move was applauded in the United States and other
Western states but criticized by several Arab and African leaders
as well as aid organizations, who feared it would make humanitarian
work in Darfur more difficult and jeopardize the increasingly
fragile peace deal with the south.
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As tribal clashes intensified in southern Sudan, violence waned in
Darfur. But until the security of Darfuri civilians, including
nearly three million refugees, is assured, the conflict will not be
over.