3.7.1: case study – the Darfur genocide

the Darfur genocide (Sudan)

• Sudan is very diverse
  • main ethnic groups are Arab, African, and Indigenous peoples
  • main religious groups are Sunni (Islam), Indigenous religious beliefs, and Christianity
• faces great difficulty with political cooperation
  • many conflicts over ethnicity, religion
  • CPA (2005) ends civil war, unrest remains
  • many refugees leaving Sudan
• civil war has led to
  • lack of economic and political development
  • heavy internal displacement
  • huge refugee crisis
• the Darfur region is located in Western Sudan, occupied primarily by marginalized communities
  • majority in the area are ethnic muslims
  • African and Arab communities are often at conflict with each other
  • different religions and ways of life; Africans are generally farmers where as Arabs are generally herders
  • intermarriage between ethnic groups makes it harder to distinguish members of one from another
  • based on ancestry, so most identity through appearance or political ideology
  • notion exists that Arabs are “superior” or more advanced, which creates many conflicts on the local level
• roots of recent conflict
  • competition over dwindling natural resources
  • erosion of traditional tribal leadership structures (political turmoil)
  • Arab resentment of land-owning African communities
  • emergence of armed Darfurian rebel groups
  • flood of arms and weapons into the Darfur region from other countries with (primarily economic) interests in the area
• Sudanese government moved to act due to
  • mounting rebel attacks
  • long-term sentiment against Darfur based on its large non-Arab population
  • desire to control oil reserves in Darfur
  • local food sources and the economy declined following the Northern Darfurian drought in the 1980’s
  • Arabs and Africans competed for land, food, and water control
  • this led Arabs to join the Janjaweed in the 1990’s when it focused on small-scale local raids
• Darfur genocide
  • the mass training of the Sudanese government of Arabs to wipe out non-Arab inhabitants of the Darfur region
  • took place from 2003-present
  • Janjaweed raid villages, beginning with bombings before soldiers are moved in
  • slavery, rape, and looting are also commonly used
  • bodies are thrown in local water sources to contaminate them for survivors and villages are burned
  • the US and UN have tried to prevent it, but to little avail thus far
  • in the UN’s efforts to help, many UN workers have been killed/attacked
  • disarming the Janjaweed is necessary for peace, but it is unclear how this could be accomplished
  • China and Russia have sided with the Sudanese government, mainly for economic reasons (coal = $); roughly 5,000 people are killed every month in the conflict (as of 2020)
  • China’s president has spent millions in aiding Sudan
  • Sudan also regularly steals or ignores the UN’s policies after initially agreeing to them