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