(Redirected from Darfur Conflict)
The 'Darfur conflict' is a complex crisis in the
Darfur region of western
Sudan. One side of the armed conflict is composed mainly of the
Sudanese military and the
Janjaweed, a
militia group recruited mostly from the
Arab Baggara tribes of the northern
Rizeigat, camel-herding
nomads. The other side comprises a variety of rebel groups, notably the
Sudan Liberation Movement and the
Justice and Equality Movement, recruited primarily from the land-tilling
Fur,
Zaghawa, and
Massaleit ethnic groups. The
Sudanese government, while publicly denying that it supports the Janjaweed, has provided money and assistance to the militia and has participated in joint attacks targeting the tribes from which the rebels draw support.
[1] The conflict began in
February 2003. Unlike in the
Second Sudanese Civil War, which was fought between the primarily
Muslim north and
Christian and
Animist south, almost all of the combatants and victims in Darfur are Muslim.
[2]
The combination of decades of
drought,
desertification, and
overpopulation are among the causes of the Darfur conflict, because the Baggara
nomads searching for water have to take their livestock further south, to land mainly occupied by non-Arab farming communities.
[3]
The government and Janjaweed attacks upon the non-
Baggara civilian populace have resulted in a major
humanitarian crisis. There are many casualty estimates, most concurring on a range within the hundreds of thousands. The
United Nations (UN) estimates that the conflict has left as many as 450,000 dead from violence and disease.
[4] Most
non-governmental organizations use 200,000 to more than 400,000; the latter is a figure from the
Coalition for International Justice that has since been cited by the UN. Sudan's government claims that over 9,000 people have been killed, although this figure is seen as counterfactual.
[5][6] As many as 2.5 million are thought to have been
displaced as of October 2006.
[7] (''See
Counting deaths section, below'')
The Sudanese government suppressed information by jailing and killing witnesses since 2004 and tampering with evidence such as mass graves and eliminating their forensic values.
[8][9][10] In addition, by obstructing and arresting journalists, the Sudanese government has been able to obscure much of what has gone on.
[11][12][13][14] The mass media once described the conflict as both "
ethnic cleansing" and "
genocide," and now do so without hesitation. The
United States government has described it as genocide,
[15] although the UN has declined to do so. (''See
List of declarations of genocide in Darfur'') In March 2007 the U.N. mission accused Sudan's government of orchestrating and taking part in "gross violations" in Darfur and called for urgent international action to protect civilians there.
After fighting worsened in
July and
August, on
August 31,
2006, the
United Nations Security Council approved
Resolution 1706 which called for a new 17,300-troop UN
peacekeeping force to supplant or supplement a poorly funded, ill-equipped 7,000-troop
African Union Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force. Sudan strongly objected to the resolution and said that it would see the UN forces in the region as foreign invaders. The next day, the
Sudanese military launched a major offensive in the region. (''See
New proposed UN peacekeeping force'') In the meantime, the conflict expanded into part of the broader
Central African War.
Background
Main articles: History of Darfur
The conflict taking place in Darfur has many interwoven causes. While rooted in structural inequality between the center of the country around the
Nile and the 'peripheral' areas such as Darfur, tensions were exacerbated in the last two decades of the twentieth century by a combination of environmental calamity, fast
population growth,
desertification, political opportunism and regional politics. On June 16, 2007,
UN Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon released a statement in which he proposed that the
slaughter in Darfur was caused "at least in part from
climate change", and that it "derives, to some degree, from man-made
global warming".
[16] "''The scale of historical climate change, as recorded in Northern
Darfur, is almost unprecedented: the reduction in rainfall has turned millions of hectares of already marginal semi-desert grazing land into desert. The impact of climate change is considered to be directly related to the conflict in the region, as desertification has added significantly to the stress on the livelihoods of pastoralist societies, forcing them to move south to find pasture,''" the
UNEP report states.
[17]
A point of particular confusion has been the characterization of the conflict as one between '
Arab' and '
African' populations, a
dichotomy that one historian describes as "both true and false".
[18]
In the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, the
Keira dynasty of the
Fur people of the
Marrah Mountains established a
sultanate with
Islam as the
state religion. The sultanate was conquered by the
Turco-Egyptian force expanding south along the Nile, which was in turn defeated by the
Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed ''
Mahdi''. The Mahdist state collapsed under the onslaught of the British force led by
Herbert Kitchener, who established an
Anglo-Egyptian co-dominium to rule Sudan. The British allowed Darfur ''
de jure'' autonomy until 1916 when they invaded and incorporated the region into Sudan.
[19] Within Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the bulk of resources were devoted toward
Khartoum and
Blue Nile Province, leaving the rest of the country relatively undeveloped.
The inhabitants of the Nile Valley, which had received the bulk of British investment, continued the pattern of economic and political marginalization after independence was achieved in 1956. In the 1968 elections, factionalism within the ruling
Umma Party led candidates, notably
Sadiq al-Mahdi, to try to split off portions of the Darfuri electorate either by blaming the region's underdevelopment on the Arabs, in the case of appeals to the stationary peoples, or by appealing to the Baggara semi-nomads to support their fellow Nile Arabs. This Arab-African dichotomy, which was not an indigenously developed way of perceiving local relations, was exacerbated after
Libyan President
Muammar Gaddafi became focused on establishing an Arab belt across the
Sahel and promulgated an ideology of Arab supremacy.
[20] As a result of a sequence of interactions between Sudan, Libya and Chad from the late 1960s through the 1980s, including the creation of the Libyan-supported
Islamic Legion, Sudanese President
Gaafar Nimeiry established Darfur as a rear base for the rebel force led by
Hissène Habré, which was attempting to overthrow the Chadian government and was also anti-Gaddafi.
[21]
In 1983 and 1984, the rains failed and the region was plunged into a
famine.
[22] The famine killed an estimated 95,000 people out of a population of 3.1 million. Nimeiry was overthrown on
5 April 1985, and Sadiq al-Mahdi came out of exile, making a deal with Gaddafi, which al-Mahdi did not honor, to turn over Darfur to Libya if he was supplied with the funds to win the upcoming elections.
[23]
In early
2003, two local rebel groups — the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the
Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)
[ The Sudan Liberation Movement and Sudan Liberation Army (SLM/SLA) Political Declaration ] — accused the government of oppressing non-Arabs. The SLM, which is much larger than the JEM, is generally associated with the Fur and Masalit, as well as the Wagi clan of the Zaghawa, while the JEM is associated with the Kobe clan of Zaghawa. Later that year, leaders of both groups, the Sudanese Government and representatives of the International diplomatic community were brought together in Geneva by the
Center for Humanitarian Dialogue to look at ways of addressing the humanitarian crisis. In 2004, the JEM joined the
Eastern Front, a group set up in 2004 as an alliance between two eastern tribal rebel groups, the
Rashaida tribe's
Free Lions and the
Beja Congress. The JEM has also been accused of being controlled by
Hassan al-Turabi.
On January 20, 2006, SLM declared a merger with the Justice and Equality Movement to form the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West Sudan. However, in May of that year, the SLM and JEM were again negotiating as separate entities.
History of the conflict, 2003-2007
The starting point of the conflict in the Darfur region is typically said to be
26 February 2003, when a group calling itself the
Darfur Liberation Front (DLF) publicly claimed credit for an attack on
Golo, the headquarters of
Jebel Marra District. Even prior to this attack, however, a conflict had erupted in Darfur, as rebels had already attacked police stations, army outposts and military convoys, and the government had engaged in a massive air and land assault on the rebel stronghold in the
Marrah Mountains. The rebels' first military action was a successful attack on an army garrison on the mountain on
25 February 2002 and the Sudanese government had been aware of a unified rebel movement since an attack on the Golo police station in June 2002. Chroniclers Julie Flint and
Alex de Waal state that the beginning of the rebellion is better dated to
21 July 2001, when a group of Zaghawa and
Fur met in
Abu Gamra and swore oaths on the
Qur'an to work together to defend against government-sponsored attacks on their villages.
[24] It should be noted that nearly all of the residents of Darfur are
Muslim, as are the
Janjaweed and the government leaders in
Khartoum.
[25]
On
25 March, the rebels seized the garrison town of
Tine along the Chadian border, seizing large quantities of supplies and arms. Despite a threat by President
Omar al-Bashir to "unleash" the army, the military had little in reserve. The army was already deployed both to the south, where the
Second Sudanese Civil War was drawing to an end, and the east, where rebels sponsored by
Eritrea were threatening the newly constructed pipeline from the central oilfields to
Port Sudan. The rebel tactic of hit-and-run raids using
Toyota Land Cruisers to speed across the semi-desert region proved almost impossible for the army, untrained in desert operations, to counter. However, its aerial bombardment of rebel positions on the mountain was devastating.
[26]
At 5:30 am on
25 April 2003, a joint
Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and JEM force in 33 Land Cruisers entered
al-Fashir and attacked the sleeping garrison. In the next four hours, four Antonov bombers and helicopter gunships, according to the government, (seven according to the rebels) were destroyed on the ground, 75 soldiers, pilots and technicians were killed and 32 were captured, including the commander of the air base, a
Major General. The success of the raid was unprecedented in Sudan; in the 20 years of the war in the south, the rebel
Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had never carried out such an operation.
[27]
Unleashing the Janjaweed (2003)
The al-Fashir raid was a turning point both militarily and psychologically. The armed forces had been humiliated by the al-Fashir raid and the government was faced with a difficult strategic situation. The armed forces would clearly need to be retrained and redeployed to fight this new kind of war and there were well-founded concerns about the loyalty of the many Darfurian non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the army. Responsibility for prosecuting the war was given to Sudanese
Military Intelligence. Nevertheless, in the middle months of 2003, the rebels won 34 of 38 engagements. In May, the SLA destroyed a battalion at
Kutum, killing 500 and taking 300 prisoners and in mid-July, 250 were killed in a second attack on Tine. The SLA began to infiltrate farther east, threatening to extend the war into
Kordofan.
However, at this point the government changed its strategy. Given that the army was being consistently defeated, the war effort depended on three elements: Military Intelligence, the air force, and the
Janjaweed, armed
Baggara herders whom the government had begun directing in repression of a
Masalit uprising in 1996-1999. The Janjaweed were put at the center of the new counter-insurgency strategy. Military resources were poured into Darfur and the Janjaweed were outfitted as a
paramilitary force, complete with communication equipment and some artillery. The probable results of such a strategy were clear to the military planners; similar strategies undertaken in the
Nuba Mountains and around the southern oil fields during the previous decade had resulted in massive human rights violations and
forced displacements.
[28]
The better-armed Janjaweed quickly gained the upper hand. By the spring of 2004, several thousand people — mostly from the non-Arab population — had been killed and as many as a million more had been driven from their homes, causing a major humanitarian crisis in the region. The crisis took on an international dimension when over 100,000 refugees poured into neighbouring
Chad, pursued by Janjaweed militiamen, who clashed with Chadian government forces along the border. More than 70 militiamen and 10 Chadian soldiers were killed in one gun battle in April. A
United Nations observer team reported that non-Arab villages were singled out while Arab villages were left untouched.:
Destroyed villages
as of August 2004 ''(Source: DigitalGlobe, Inc. and Department of State via USAID)''
The 23 Fur villages in the Shattaya Administrative Unit have been completely depopulated, looted and burnt to the ground (the team observed several such sites driving through the area for two days). Meanwhile, dotted alongside these charred locations are unharmed, populated and functioning Arab settlements. In some locations, the distance between a destroyed Fur village and an Arab village is less than 500 meters.[29]
In 2004, Chad brokered negotiations in
N'Djamena, leading to the
April 8 Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement between the Sudanese government, JEM, and SLM. A group splintered from the JEM in April — the
National Movement for Reform and Development — which did not participate in the April cease-fire talks or agreement. Janjaweed and rebel attacks have continued since the ceasefire. The
African Union (AU) formed a
Ceasefire Commission (CFC) to monitor observance of the putative ceasefire.
The scale of the crisis led to warnings of an imminent disaster, with
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that the risk of genocide is frighteningly real in Darfur. The scale of the Janjaweed campaign led to comparisons with the
Rwandan Genocide, a parallel hotly denied by the Sudanese government. Independent observers noted that the tactics, which include dismemberment and killing of noncombatants and even young children and babies, are more akin to the
ethnic cleansing used in the
Yugoslav Wars but have warned that the region's remoteness means that hundreds of thousands are effectively cut off from aid. The Brussels-based
International Crisis Group reported in May 2004 that over 350,000 people could potentially die as a result of
starvation and disease.
[30]
On
10 July 2005, Ex-SPLA leader
John Garang was sworn in as Sudan's vice-president.
[31] However, on
30 July 2005, Garang died in a helicopter crash.
[32] His death had long-term implications and, despite improved security, talks between the various rebels in the Darfur region went slowly.
An attack on the Chadian town of
Adre near the Sudanese border led to the deaths of three hundred rebels in December 2005. Sudan was blamed for the attack, which was the second in the region in three days.
[33] The escalating tensions in the region led to the
government of Chad declaring its hostility toward Sudan and calling for Chadian citizens to mobilise themselves against the "common enemy".
[34] (See
Chad-Sudan conflict)
May Agreement (2006)
On
May 5,
2006, the government of
Sudan signed an accord with the faction of the SLA led by
Minni Minnawi. However, the agreement was rejected by two other, smaller groups, the
Justice and Equality Movement and a rival faction of the SLA.
[35] The accord was orchestrated by the
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick,
Salim Ahmed Salim (working on behalf of the
African Union), AU representatives, and other foreign officials operating in
Abuja,
Nigeria. The accord calls for the disarmament of the
Janjaweed militia, and for the rebel forces to disband and be incorporated into the army.
[36][37]
July-August 2006
During
July and
August 2006, fighting had been renewed, "threatening to shut down the world's largest aid operation" as international aid organizations considered leaving due to attacks against their personnel.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for bringing a force of 18,000 international
peacekeepers to the region in order to replace the
African Union force of 7,000 (
AMIS).
[38] [39] In July 2006 at the Darfur town of
Kalma, seven women, who ventured out of a refugee camp to gather firewood, were gang-raped, beaten and robbed by the Janjaweed. When they had finished, the attackers then stripped them naked and jeered at them as they fled.
[ In a Darfur town, women recount numbing tale of their hell of rape and suffering ][8][41]
On
August 18, the deputy head of the UN Peacekeeping Forces, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi, warned during a private meeting that Sudan appears to be undertaking preparations for a major military offensive in the region.
[42] The warning came a day after UN Commission on Human Rights special investigator Sima Samar stated that Sudan's efforts in the region remains poor despite the May Agreement.
[43] On
August 19, Sudan reiterated its opposition to replacing the 7,000 AU force with a 17,000 UN one,
[44] resulting in the US issuing a "threat" to Sudan over the "potential consequences" of this position.
[45]
On
August 24, Sudan rejected attending a
United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting to explain its plan of sending 10,000 Sudanese soldiers to Darfur instead of the proposed 20,000 UN peacekeeping force.
[46] The UNSC announced it will hold the meeting despite Sudan's refusal to attend.
[47] Also on August 24, the
International Rescue Committee reported that hundreds of women were raped and sexually assaulted around the Kalma refugee camp during the last several weeks.
[48] The Janjaweed has used rape as a weapon. Culturally in the region, raped women are considered unclean, and are ostracized. Women are even raped in open, public places to increase humiliation for them and their families. The extent of rape used in attacks is likely greater than documented, because women who have been raped are usually reluctant to come forward.
[1] On
August 25, the head of the
US State Department's
Bureau of African Affairs, Assistant Secretary
Jendayi Frazer, warned that the region faces a security crisis unless the proposed UN peacekeeping force is allowed to deploy.
[49]
On
August 26, two days before the UNSC meeting, and on the day Frazer was due to arrive in
Khartoum, Paul Salopek, a US
National Geographic Magazine journalist appeared in court in Darfur facing charges of espionage; he had crossed into the country illegally from Chad, due to the strict rules against foreign journalists. He was later released after direct negotiation with President al-Bashir.
[50] This came a month after
Tomo Križnar, a
Slovenian presidential envoy, was sentenced to two years for spying.
[51]
New proposed UN peacekeeping force
:''See also:
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706''
On
August 31, 2006, the UNSC approved a resolution to send a new peacekeeping force of 17,300 to the region.
[52] Sudan has expressed strong opposition to the resolution.
[53] On
September 1, 2006,
African Union officials reported that Sudan has launched a major offensive in Darfur. According to the AU, over 20 people were killed and 1,000 were displaced during clashes that began earlier in the week.
[54] On
September 5, Sudan has asked the AU force in Darfur to leave the region by the end of the month, adding that "they have no right to transfer this assignment to the United Nations or any other party. This right rests with the government of Sudan."
[55] On September 4, 2006, in a move not viewed as surprising,
Chad's
president Idriss Déby voiced support for the new UN peacekeeping force.
[56] The AU, whose peacekeeping force mandate expires on
September 30, 2006, has confirmed that they will do so.
[57] The next day, however, a senior US State Department official who declined to be identified, told reporters that the AU force might remain in the region past the deadline, citing this possibility as a "viable, live option."
[58]
Implementation failure (September 2006)
On September 8, 2006, head of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, said Darfur faces a "humanitarian catastrophe."
[59] On
September 12, 2006, Sudan's
European Union envoy Pekka Haavisto claimed that the Sudanese army is "bombing civilians in Darfur"
[60]. A
World Food Program official reported that food aid has been cut off from at least 355,000 people in the region.
[61] UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the UNSC that "the tragedy in Darfur has reached a critical moment. It merits this council's closest attention and urgent action."
[62]
On
September 14, 2006, the leader of the now defunct
Sudan Liberation Movement, currently Senior Assistant to the
President of the Republic and Chairman of the Regional Interim Authority of Darfur,
Minni Minnawi, stated that he does not object to the new UN peacekeeping force, thereby breaking ranks with the Sudanese government who consider such a deployment to be an act of Western invasion. Minnawi claimed that the AU force "can do nothing because the AU mandate is very limited."
[63] Khartoum, however, remained sternly against the UN peacekeeping force, with Sudanese president Al-Bashir depicting it as a
colonial plan, and stating that "we do not want Sudan to turn into
another Iraq."
[64]
Deterioration (October-November 2006)
On
October 2, with the UN force plan indefinitely suspended on account of Sudanese opposition, the AU announced that it will extend its presence in the region until
December 31,
2006.
[65] [66] Two hundred UN troops were sent to reinforce the AU force.
[67] On
October 6, the UNSC voted to extend the mandate of the
United Nations Mission in Sudan until
April 30,
2007.
[68] On
October 9, the
Food and Agriculture Organization listed Sudan's Darfur region as the most pressing food emergency out of the forty countries listed on its ''Crop Prospects and Food Situation'' report.
[69] On
October 10, the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
Louise Arbour, claimed that the Sudanese government had prior knowledge of attacks by Janjaweed militias in Buram,
South Darfur the month before, an attack which saw hundreds of civilians killed.
[70]
Children in the camps are encouraged to confront their psychological scars. The clay figures depict an attack by Janjaweed.
On
October 12, the
Foreign Minister of Nigeria Joy Ogwu arrived in Darfur for a two-day visit. She urged the Sudanese government to accept a UN formula. Speaking in
Ethiopia,
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo spoke against "stand[ing] by and see[ing] genocide being developed in Darfur."
[71] On
October 13,
US President George W. Bush imposed further sanctions against those deemed complicit in the Darfur atrocities under the ''
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006''. The measures were said to strengthen existing sanctions by prohibiting US citizens from engaging in oil-related transactions with Sudan (although US companies were prohibited from doing any business with Sudan since
1997), freezing the assets of complicit parties and denying them entry to the US.
[72]
Because the
African Union Mission in Sudan is underfunded and badly equipped, it is said that until December 31, violence in Darfur will worsen, with government troops and allied militias, as well as rebels, blamed for new attacks. But so far there is no agreement on what will happen after that date. Aid workers say their access is severely limited by fighting, and some have warned the humanitarian situation could deteriorate to levels seen in
2003 and
2004 when U.N. officials called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
On
22 October 2006, the Sudanese government told U.N. envoy
Jan Pronk to leave the country within three days. Pronk, the senior U.N. official in the country, had been heavily criticized by the army after he posted a description of several recent military defeats in Darfur to his personal
blog.
[73] On
November 1, the US announced that it will be formulating an international plan which they hoped the Sudanese government will find more palatable.
[74] On
November 9, senior Sudanese presidential advisor Nafie Ali Nafie told reporters that his government is prepared to start unconditional talks with the
National Redemption Front (NRF) -the rebel alliance in Darfur- but noted he saw little use for a new peace agreement. The NRF, who had rejected the May Agreement (only an inter-SLM faction was signatory to it), did not issue a comment. It had previously sought a new peace agreement.
[75]
In late 2006, Darfur Arabs started their own rebel group, The Popular Forces Troops, and announced on December 6 that they had repulsed an assault by the Sudanese army at Kas-Zallingi the previous day. In a statement, they called the
Janjaweed mercenaries who do not represent Darfur's Arabs. Since 2003, numerous Darfur Arab groups have announced their opposition to the government's war, some signing political accords with rebel movements.
Some of the splits within the Arab forces were tribe based. Sometime in late 2006, for example, relations between the farming
Terjem and nomadic, camel-herding
Mahria tribes became tense. Terjem leaders accused the Mahria of kidnapping a Terjem boy, and Mahria leaders said the Terjem were stealing their animals even before that. Ali Mahamoud Mohammed, the wali, or governor, of
South Darfur, said the fighting began in December when the Mahria drove their camels south in a seasonal migration, trampling through Terjem territory near the
Bulbul River. Fighting would later resume in July 2007.
[gettleman, Jeffrey, "Chaos in Darfur on rise as Arabs fight with Arabs", news article, ''The New York Times'', September 3, 2007, pp 1, A7]
Proposed compromise UN force and Sudanese offensive
On
November 17, reports of a potential deal to place a "compromise peacekeeping force" in Darfur were announced,
[76] but would later appear to have been rejected by Sudan.
[77] The UN, nonetheless, claimed on
November 18 that Sudan agreed to the deployment of UN peacekeepers.
[78] Sudan's Foreign Minister
Lam Akol stated that "there should be no talk about a mixed force" and that the UN's role should be restricted to technical support. Also on November 18, the AU reported that Sudanese military and Sudanese-backed militias had launched a ground and air operation in the region which resulted in about 70 civilian deaths. The AU stated that this "'was a flagrant violation of security agreements.'"
[79]
On
November 25, a spokesperson for
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour accused the Sudanese government of having committed "a deliberate and unprovoked attack" against civilians in the town of Sirba on
November 11, which claimed the lives of at least 30 people. The Commissioner's statement maintained that "contrary to the government’s claim, it appears that the Sudanese Armed Forces launched a deliberate and unprovoked attack on civilians and their property in Sirba," and that this also involved "extensive and wanton destruction and looting of civilian property."
[80]
January - April 2007 cease-fire agreement and its rapid dissolution
According to the
Save Darfur Coalition,
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and President
al-Bashir have agreed to a cease-fire whereby the Sudanese "government and rebel groups will cease hostilities for a period of 60 days while they work towards a lasting peace."
[81] In addition, the Save Darfur press release stated that the agreement "included a number of concessions to improve humanitarian aid and media access to Darfur." Despite the formality of a ceasefire there have been further media reports of killings and other violence.
[ 73 villagers killed, rebel group says ]
[ The UN and Darfur: Watching, but still waiting ]
On Sunday April 15, 2007, African Union peacekeepers were targeted and killed.
[ African troops killed in Darfur ]
The New York Times reported that "a confidential United Nations report says the government of Sudan is flying arms and heavy military equipment into Darfur in violation of Security Council resolutions and painting Sudanese military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or African Union aircraft."
[ Sudan Flying Arms to Darfur, Panel Reports ]
The violence has spread over the border to Chad. On March 31, 2007 Janjaweed militiamen killed up to 400 people in the volatile eastern border region of Chad near Sudan. The attack took place in the border villages of Tiero and Marena. The villages were encircled and then fired upon. Fleeing villagers were later subsequently chased. The women were robbed and the men shot according to the
UNHCR. There were many who, despite surviving the initial attack, ended up dying due to exhaustion and dehydration, often while fleeing.
[ Attacks in eastern Chad last month killed up to 400, U.N. refugee agency says ]
On April 14, 2007, more attacks within Chad were reported by the [UNHCR] to have occurred again in the border villages of Tiero and Marena.
[ Up to 3,000 villagers flee homes in south-east Chad following fresh attacks ]
On April 18th
President Bush gave a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum criticizing the Sudanese government and threatened the use of
sanctions if the situation does not improve. Sanctions would involve restriction of trade and dollar transactions with the Sudanese government and 29 Sudanese businesses.
[ Bush Presses Sudan on Darfur, Citing possible US sanctions ]
International Criminal Court charges
Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister,
Ahmed Haroun, and a Janjaweed militia leader, known as Ali Kushayb, have been charged by the
International Criminal Court with 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ahmed Haroun said he "did not feel guilty," his conscience was clear, and that he was ready to defend himself.
[ Darfur war crimes suspect defiant ]
May 2007
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Chad president Idriss Deby signed a peace agreement on May 3, 2007 aimed at reducing tension between their countries.
[ Saudi Arabia Brokers Agreement Between Sudan and Chad on Darfur ]
[ UN Secretary-General welcomes signing of agreement between Chad, Sudan ]
The accord was brokered by Saudi Arabia. It sought to guarantee that each country would not be used to harbor, train or fund armed movements opposed to the government of the other. The Reuters News Service reported that "Deby's fears that Nouri's UFDD may have been receiving Saudi as well as Sudanese support could have pushed him to sign the Saudi-mediated pact with Bashir on Thursday". Colin Thomas-Jensen, an expert on Chad and Darfur who works International Crisis Group think-tank has grave doubts as to whether "this new deal will lead to any genuine thaw in relations or improvement in the security situation". Additionally The Chadian rebel Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) which has fought a hit-and-run war against Chad President Deby's forces in east Chad since 2006 stated that the Saudi-backed peace deal would not stop its military campaign. Only the carrot and stick of Saudi aid to the UFDD may have forced the Chad government to the table. Thus the agreement may end up hurting the Sudanese rebels the most, leaving the Sudanese government with a freer hand.
[ Chad-Sudan pact will not halt war-Chadian rebels ]
Also in May, locations related to the conflict were added in
Google Earth.
Google Earth focuses on Sudan atrocities
Russian and Chinese undermining of sanctions
Amnesty International issued a report
[ Sudan: Arms continuing to fuel serious human rights violations in Darfur ]
[ Report Accuses China and Russia Of Arming Sudan ][ Congress pressures China on Darfur as Olympics near ] accusing Russia and China of supplying arms, ammunition and related equipment to Sudan. This hardware has been transferred to Darfur for use by the government and the Janjaweed militias and thus violating a UN arms embargo against Sudan. In its report it showed a photo of Chinese-made Fantan fighters that have been seen at Nyala, Darfur and a Ukranian Antonov-26 aircraft (painted white). The report provided evidence (including eyewitness testimony) that the Sudan Air Force has been conducting a pattern of indiscriminate aerial bombings of villages in Darfur and eastern Chad using ground attack jet fighters and Antonov planes. The report contained an image of a Russian made Mi-24 attack helicopter (reg. n° 928) at Nyala airport in Darfur in March of 2007. For several years the Sudan Air Force has used this type of attack helicopter for operations during Janjaweed attacks on villages in Al Darfur. The report also showed evidence that the government has been camouflaging military aircraft and helicopters by painting them white and in doing so, tried to cover up their military use by claiming that they were civilian in nature. The photo of the white Antonov-26 aircraft was reported to have been used in Darfur in bombing missions. China and Russia denied they had broken UN sanctions. China has a close relationship with Sudan and increased its military co-operation with the government in early 2007. Because of Sudan's plentiful supply of oil China considers good relations with Sudan to be a strategic necessity that is needed to fuel its booming economy.
[ China, Russia breach Darfur arms embargo: Amnesty ][ China, Russia deny weapons breach ]
[ Amnesty International criticizes arms sales to Sudan ]
China also has direct commercial interests in Sudan's oil. China’s state-owned company CNPC controls between 60 and 70 percent of Sudan’s total oil production. Additionally It owns the largest single share (40 percent) of Sudan’s national oil company, Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company.
[ Sudan's Enablers ][ China’s rise: Hope or doom for Africa? (III) ][ Can LeBron save Darfur? ] China has also consistently opposed economic and non-military sanctions on Sudan.
[ Why China Blocks Sanctions on Iran, Sudan, Burma ][ China urges patience on Sudan, opposes sanctions ][ China, Russia bar Sudan sanctions ][ Bush Announces New Economic Sanctions on Sudan to Halt Darfur Crisis ]
Recently, however, a Small Arms Survey research paper suggested that China may be changing its stance on Darfur due to international pressure
[82]
June 2007
Oxfam announced on June 17 that it is permanently pulling out of Gereida, the largest camp in Darfur, where more than 130,000 have sought refuge. The agency cited inaction by local authorities from the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), which controls the region, in addressing security concerns and violence against aid workers. An employee of the NGO
Action by Churches Together was murdered in June in West Darfur. There has been a continuation of hijackings of vehicles belonging to the UN and other international organizations - something that is also making them think twice about staying in the region.
[ SUDAN: Continuing violence in West Darfur claims NGO employee ]
July 2007
BBC News reported
[83] that a huge underground lake has been found in the Darfur region. It is suggested that this find could help end the war as it could eliminate the existing competition for precious water resources.
France and
Britain announced they will push for a U.N. resolution to dispatch
African Union and
United Nations peacekeepers to Darfur and will push for an immediate cease-fire in Darfur and are prepared to provide "substantial" economic aid "as soon as a cease-fire makes it possible."
[84]
A July 14, 2007 article notes that in the past two months up to 75,000 Arabs from
Chad and
Niger crossed the border into Darfur. Most have been relocated by Sudanese government to former villages of displaced non-Arab people.
[85]
The hybrid UN/AU force was finally approved on
31 July 2007 with the unanimously approved
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1769.
UNAMID will take over from
AMIS by
31 December 2007 at the latest, and has an initial mandate up to
31 July 2008.
[86]
On July 31, the ongoing conflict between the Terjem and the Mahria tribes (former partners in the Janjaweed) heated up, with Mahria gunmen surrounding mourners at the funeral of an important Terjem sheik and killing 60 with rocket-propelled grenades and belt-fed machine guns.
August 2007
From 3 August 2007 until 5 August 2007, a conference was held in Arusha, Tanzania, to unite the different existing rebel groups to make the subsequent peace negotiations with the government of Sudan more streamlined. Most senior rebel leaders attended, with the notable exception of Abdul Wahid al Nur, who — while not in command of large forces, but a rather small splinter group of the SLA/M he initially founded in 2003[87] — is considered to be the representatives of a large part of the displaced Fur people, and there have been concerns that his absence would be damaging to the peace talks.[88] International officials have stated that the difficulty lies in the fact that there is "no John Garang in Darfur", referring to the leader of the negotiating team of South Sudan, who was universally accepted by all the various South Sudanese splinter groups.[89]
The leaders who arrived on Friday were Gamali Galaleiddine,[90] Khalil Abdalla Adam, Salah Abu Surra, Khamis Abdallah Abakar, Ahmed Abdelshafi, Abdalla Yahya, Khalil Ibrahim (of the Justice and Equality Movement) and Ahmed Ibrahim Ali Diraige. The schedule for Saturday consists of closed-door meetings between the AU-UN and rebel leaders, as well as between rebel leaders alone.[91] In addition to those eight, eight more arrived there late on 4 August (including Jar el-Neby, Salah Adam Issac and Suleiman Marajan[92]), whereas the SLM Unity faction will also boycott the talks as the Sudanese government has threatened to arrest Suleiman Jamous if he leaves hospital.[93] The rebel leaders aim to unify their positions and demands, which are certain to include compensation for the victims and autonomy for Darfur.
They eventually reached agreement on joined demands, including power and wealth sharing, security, land and humanitarian issues.[94]
In the several months up through August, Arab tribes that had worked together in the Janjaweed militia began falling out among themselves, and even further splintered into factions. Terjem fought Mahria as thousands of gunmen from each side traveled hundreds of miles to fight in the strategic Bulbul river valley. Farther south, Habanniya and Salamat tribes clashed. The fighting did not result in as much killing as in 2003 and 2004, the height of the violence. United Nations officials said the groups might be trying to seize land before U.N. and African Union peacekeepers arrived.
September 2007
On 6 September 2007 the next round of peace talks was set to begin on 27 October 2007.[95]
International response (2003-2004)
Main articles: International response to the Darfur conflict
International attention to the Darfur conflict largely began with reports by the advocacy organizations Amnesty International in July 2003 and the International Crisis Group in December 2003. However, widespread media coverage did not start until the outgoing United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila, called Darfur the "world's greatest humanitarian crisis" in March 2004.[96] A movement advocating for humanitarian intervention has emerged in several countries since then.
Gérard Prunier, a scholar specializing in African conflicts, argues that the world's most powerful countries have largely limited their response to expressions of concern and demands that the United Nations take action. The UN, lacking both the funding and military support of the wealthy countries, has left the African Union to deploy a token force (AMIS) without a mandate to protect civilians. In the lack of foreign political will to address the political and economic structures that underlie the conflict, the international community has defined the Darfur conflict in humanitarian assistance terms and debated the "genocide" label.[96]
Genocide claims
Main articles: International response to the Darfur conflict#Declarations of genocide, International response to the Darfur conflict: Declarations of genocide
On September 18, 2004, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1564, which called for a Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to assess the Sudanese conflict. The UN report released on January 31, 2005 stated that while there were mass murders and rapes, they could not label it as genocide because "genocidal intent appears to be missing".[98][99]
In 2005, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) introduced the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which calls on the United States to take a more active role in stopping the alleged genocide, encourages NATO participation, and endorses a Chapter VII mandate for a UN mission in Darfur. The bill was passed by the House and Senate and as of August 2006 is in conference committee. In August 2006, the Genocide Intervention Network released a Darfur scorecard, rating each member of Congress on legislation relating to the conflict. [100]
Criticism of international response
On October 16, 2006, Minority Rights Group (MRG) published a critical report, challenging that the UN and the great powers could have prevented the deepening crisis in Darfur and that few lessons appear to have been drawn from their ineptitude during the Rwandan Genocide. MRG's executive director, Mark Lattimer, stated that: "this level of crisis, the killings, rape and displacement could have been foreseen and avoided ... Darfur would just not be in this situation had the UN systems got its act together after Rwanda: their action was too little too late." [101] On October 20, 120 genocide survivors of the Holocaust, the Cambodian and Rwandan Genocides, backed by six aid agencies, submitted an open letter to the European Union, calling on them to do more to end the atrocities in Darfur, with a UN peacekeeping force as "the only viable option." Aegis Trust director, James Smith, stated that while "the African Union has worked very well in Darfur and done what it could, the rest of the world hasn't supported those efforts the way it should have done with sufficient funds and sufficient equipment." [102]
Human rights advocates and opponents of the Sudanese government portray China's role in providing weapons and aircraft as a cynical attempt to obtain oil and gas just as colonial powers once supplied African chieftains with the military means to maintain control as they extracted natural resources.[ CHINA’S INVOLVEMENT IN SUDAN: ARMS AND OIL ][ China Invests Heavily In Sudan's Oil Industry ][ Artists abetting genocide? ] Political China has offered Sudan support threatening to use its veto on the U.N. Security Council to protect Khartoum from sanctions and has been able to water down every resolution on Darfur in order to protect its interests in Sudan.[ The Increasing Importance of African Oil ] There has been further evidence of the Sudanese government's murder of civilians to actually facilitate the extraction of oil. The U.S.-funded Civilian Protection Monitoring Team, which investigates attacks in southern Sudan concluded that "As the Government of Sudan sought to clear the way for oil exploration and to create a cordon sanitaire around the oil fields, vast tracts of the Western Upper Nile Region in southern Sudan became the focus of extensive military operations."[ Final Report: REPORT OF INVESTIGATION: VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS ALONG THE BENTIU-LEER-ADOK ROAD. ] Sarah Wykes, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, an NGO that campaigns for better natural resource governance, says: "Sudan has purchased about $100m in arms from China and has used these weapons against civilians in Darfur."[ China Invests Heavily In Sudan's Oil Industry ] There are additional concerns that Chinese oil companies are devastating the environment further inhibiting the local population's ability to survive. This includes the clearing of forests for timber exports that increases vulnerability to erosion, river silting, landslides, flooding and loss of habitat for plant and animal species.[ Scramble for Africa ]
Calls for sustained pressure and possible boycotts of the Olympics have come from French presidential candidate François Bayrou[103], actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow, Genocide Intervention Network Representative Ronan Farrow[104], author and Sudan scholar Eric Reeves[105] and The Washington Post editorial board[106]. Sudan divestment efforts have also concentrated on PetroChina, the national petroleum company with extensive investments in Sudan.[107]
On the opposite side of the issue, publicity given to the Darfur conflict has been strongly criticized in the Arab and Muslim world as exaggerated. Statements to this effect in the Arab press take the view that "the (Israeli) lobby prevents any in-depth discussion and diverts the attention from the crimes committed every day in Palestine and Iraq."[108] and that Western attention to the Darfur crisis is "a cover for what is really being planned and carried out by the Western forces of hegemony and control in our Arab world." [109] While "in New York, ... there are thousands of posters screaming 'genocide' and '400,000 people dead," in reality only "200,000 have been killed." Furthermore, "what has been done" in Darfur is "not genocide," simply "war crimes."[109] Another complaint made is that "there is no ethnic cleansing being perpetrated" in Darfur, only "great instability" and "clashes between the Sudanese government, rebel movements and the Janjaweed." [111]
Counting deaths
This mother had just arrived with her sick baby at Abu Shouk IDP camp in
North Darfur.
Accurate numbers of dead have been difficult to estimate, partly because the Sudanese government places formidable obstacles in front of journalists attempting to cover the conflict.[112]
In September 2004, the World Health Organization estimated there had been 50,000 deaths in Darfur since the beginning of the conflict, an 18-month period, mostly due to starvation. An updated estimate the following month put the number of deaths for the 6-month period from March to October 2004 due to starvation and disease at 70,000; These figures were criticized, because they only considered short periods and did not include violent deaths. [113] A more recent British Parliamentary Report has estimated that over 300,000 people have died, [114] and others have estimated even more.
In March 2005, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator
Jan Egeland estimated that 10,000 were dying each month excluding deaths due to ethnic violence. [115] An estimated 2 million people had at that time been displaced from their homes, mostly seeking refuge in camps in Darfur's major towns. Two hundred thousand had fled to neighboring Chad.
In an April 2005 report, the most comprehensive statistical analysis to date, the Coalition for International Justice estimated that 400,000 people in Darfur had died since the conflict began, a figure most humanitarian and human rights groups now use. [116]
On 28 April 2006, Dr. Eric Reeves argued that "extant data, in aggregate, strongly suggest that total excess mortality in Darfur, over the course of more than three years of deadly conflict, now significantly exceeds 450,000," but this has not been independently verified. [117]
A 21 September 2006 article by the official UN News Service stated that "UN officials estimate over 400,000 people have lost their lives and some 2 million more have been driven from their homes."[118] This now appears to be the official UN figure.
In popular culture
★ The Song "Al Genina (Leave The Light On)" by Our Lady Peace was influenced by lead singer Raine Maida's visit to war torn Darfur.
★ A documentary, ''The Devil Came on Horseback'', is expected early 2007.
★ A story arc spanning several episodes and featuring several major characters of the television show ''ER'' takes place in the region.
★ An episode in the seventh season of the television show The West Wing, "Internal Displacement," deals with the conflict in Darfur. Actor Bradley Whitford later spoke out about the need for international involvement in Darfur.[3]
★ A campaign was placed on MTV about raising the need for awareness about Darfur
★ On the popular CW show 7th Heaven, two episodes are dedicated to this crisis.
★ The comic book '', published by Marvel Comics, takes place in the region and highlights the conflict
★ In 2006 rapper Lupe Fiasco appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien as a musical guest and ended his performance with the statement "Peace in Darfur ladies and gentlemen".
★ Many Reggae and Dancehall artists and DJs have expressed a concern about the situation and in the 2006 Dancehall tune, artist Capleton sings, "Dem nuh like we true mi a speak out fi Sudan."
★ Green Day have released a music video for their cover of Working Class Hero by John Lennon which features several people from Darfur who speak of their experiences.
★ Actors Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and George Clooney have used their celebrity status to help bring world attention to the conflict.[4]
★ In the song "Jimmy" by M.I.A., she mentions the genocide with the lyrics "Take me on a genocide tour / Take me on a truck to Darfur".
See also
★ History of Darfur, for a broader view of the events that have caused the current conflict
★ Bibliography of the Darfur conflict, for all external links to news coverage, advocacy initiatives and research on the conflict
★ International response to the Darfur conflict, for the response of individuals, organizations and governments to the conflict since 2003
★ Chad-Sudan conflict
★ African Union Mission in Sudan
★ United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706
★ Central African War
★ Second Sudanese Civil War
★ Slavery in Sudan
★ Ethnic cleansing
★ List of civil wars
★ List of famines
★ List of wars by death toll
★ Genocides in history
★ Command responsibility
References
1. Rights Group Says Sudan's Government Aided Militias
2. See Wikipedia entries on the Fur and Zaghawa as well as articles in USA Today, Slate and the New York Review of Books. Additionally, the Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General (PDF), United Nations, 25 January 2005, states: "The various tribes that have been the object of attacks and killings (chiefly the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa tribes) do not appear to make up ethnic groups distinct from the ethnic group to which persons or militias that attack them belong. They speak the same language (Arabic) and embrace the same religion (Islam)" (p. 129).
3. Looking to water to find peace in Darfur
4. Hundreds Killed in Attacks in Eastern Chad
5. US Angry Over Sudan Leader's Denial of Role in Darfur Atrocities
6. With Sudan a member, the UN is pointless
7. African Union Force Ineffective, Complain Refugees in Darfur
8. The horrors of Darfur's ground zero
9. Darfur Destroyed - Summary
10. Darfur Destroyed -Destroying Evidence?
11. Country Of Origin Report: Sudan
12. Tribune correspondent charged as spy in Sudan
13. World Press Freedom Review
14. Police put on a show of force, but are Darfur’s militia killers free to roam?
15. Darfur: A ‘Plan B’ to Stop Genocide?
16. A Climate Culprit In Darfur
17. Climate change - only one cause among many for Darfur conflict
18. Gérard Prunier, ''Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide'', Cornell University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8014-4450-0, p. 4
19. Prunier, pp. 8-24
20. Prunier, pp. 42-44
21. Prunier, pp. 44-47
22. Prunier, pp. 47-52
23. Prunier, pp. 52-53, 56
24. Julie Flint and Alex de Waal, ''Darfur: A Short History of a Long War'', Zed Books, London March 2006, ISBN 1-84277-697-5, p. 76-77
25. Ibid., Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General (PDF), United Nations, 25 January 2005, p. 129.
26. Flint and de Waal, p. 99
27. Flint and de Waal, pp. 99-100
28. Flint and de Waal, pp. 60, 101-103
29. United Nations Inter-Agency Fact Finding and Rapid Assessment Mission: Kailek Town, South Darfur, United Nations Resident Coordinator, 25 April 2004
30. 'Dozens killed' in Sudan attack (BBC) 24 May 2004
31. Sudan ex-rebel joins government (BBC) 10 July 2005
32. Sudan VP Garang killed in crash (BBC) 1 August 2005
33. Chad fightback 'kills 300 rebels' (BBC) 20 December 2005
34. Chad in 'state of war' with Sudan By Stephanie Hancock, BBC News, N'Djamena, 23 December 2005
35. Sudan, Main Rebel Group Sign Peace Deal
36. Main parties sign Darfur accord
37. Main points of the deal
38. "Annan outlines Darfur peace plans", BBC, August 2, 2006
39. "Disagreements Over Darfur Peace Plan Spark Conflict", ''Voice of America'', August 9, 2006
40. The horrors of Darfur's ground zero
41. Darfur women describe gang-rape horror
42. "U.N. Official Warns of Major New Sudanese Offensive in Darfur", ''Washington Post'', August 18, 2006
43. "UN Envoy Says Sudan Rights Record in Darfur Poor", ''Voice of America'', August 17, 2006
44. "Sudan reiterates opposition to replacing AU troop with UN forces in Darfur", ''People's Daily'', August 19, 2006
45. "US threatens Sudan after UN resistance", ''Independent Online'', August 19, 2006
46. "Khartoum turns down UN meeting on Darfur peace", ''Deutsche Presse-Agentur'', August 24, 2006
47. "UN Security Council to meet on Darfur without Khartoum attendance", ''Deutsche Presse-Agentur'', August 24, 2006
48. "Sudan: Sexual Violence Spikes Around South Darfur Camp", ''Integrated Regional Information Networks'', August 24, 2006
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