حرب(Arabic word for war)

DARFUR Erica Tisdale HSP-406

Darfur is in Sudan, which is in Africa.

Sudan is Africa’s largest country,

and Darfur is approximately the size

of France. Sudan is strategically

important to the US because it is a

back-door to the Middle-East. Due

to it’s size, Sudan has the potential

to become a major power in Africa,

and oil is one of it’s natural

resources (Reyna)

Where is Darfur?

In the North, it is mostly desert, there are camel,

sheep, and goat farmers, who also practice a

little horticulture. Important tribes in the North

are the Zaghawa and various Arab groups. In the

Savannah and Jebel Marra (an extinct volcanic

mountain range) there are permanent farmers

who grow millet and sorghum. Some important

tribes here are: Fur, Daju, Tunjur, Masalit, Berti,

and Bergid. In the southern Savannah there are

a large number of cattle farmers, mostly Arabic

and clumped together as Baqqarah (Reyna).

Who lives in Darfur?

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There are more than thirty ethnic groups

that live in Darfur, but these can be

divided in two main groups, Arabic and

African (Schimmer).

Prior to 2003, there had been a history of

movement and intermarriage amongst the

peoples living in Darfur. Many Arab and non-

Arab people share commonalities, traditions,

and the same homelands (Schimmer). Sudan

has had centuries of Arab and African cultures

of common Arabic languages, Muslim faith,

and other shared experiences in Darfur

(Marlowe). Although there has been continued

conflict, there had always been traditional

framework set up to solve conflicts (Marlowe).

History of Darfur

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There were thirteen different conflicts in

Darfur region, Sudan between 1957 and 1989.

Six of which were fought between Arab

nomadic communities, four between non-Arab

communities. This low level fighting is

thought to have been intensified and

continued on due to the drought in the 1980’s.

The drought caused damage to the crops of

the nomads living in Northern Darfur, and

resulted in resentment towards the seasonal

grazing practices of the Zagahawa herdsman

who would come into the Arab occupied

grazing lands. In turn, African farmers

became hostile towards Arab nomads from the

North, who while searching for pasture,

trampled the African farmers crops (Abiodun).

Famine was increasing in the North (Reyna).

Less rainfall resulted in more migration of northern people, who were mostly Arab, to more southern regions. Most often the Arab people headed to Jebel Marra and Dar Masalit (Reyna). This resluted in extreme pressure on the land . Before 2003, this land produced 45%-60% agriculture and 10%-30% livestock for the households that farmed it. After the pro-government attacks, the production has greatly reduced. Partly due to the damaged land but also due to displaced farmers (Schimmer).

Following the drought from 1984-1985, local conflicts continued to break out between these same groups over dwindling natural resources. It was this low level fighting that eventually erupted into the much larger conflict that occurred in 2003 between SLM/A and JEM. (The Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement) (Abidun).

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In 1994, the Sudanese Government ruled by

the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the

regime of General Omar al-Bashir divided

Darfur into three districts. These are North

Darfur, South Darfur and West Darfur. These

areas are approximately 39% Arab and 61%

African, with 70% of these being Muslim and

the rest are Christian or traditional believers.

The creation of these three districts was seen

by some as a way to decentralize the control

by the traditionally non-Arab Muslim. The

historical and stable powers amongst the

tribes were removed and replaced with

primarily Arab politicians and administrators

in government offices (Schimmer). “Darfur

was swiftly becoming a dar-al-harba (a land of

war)” (Reyna).

Darfur Divided

Arabs began to form militias in the mid 1980’s which produced Janjawid, and in response, the African tribes Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa formed their own militia. First there was the Darfur Liberation Front (LIF), then the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), and the the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) (Reyna).

The Fighting Increased

The Sudanese Air Force destroyed villages by bombing them and then the Janjawid would come in and loot, torture, rape, butcher, and terrorize anyone who was left (Reyna). The Sudanese government supplied the Janjawid with weapons and supported the attacks on civilian areas with it’s full military arsenal (Marlowe). The SLA and JEM would retaliate when possible (Reyna). During these acts of violence, livestock and other food sources would be stolen, killed, or maimed leaving any survivors likely to starve (Schimmer).

The Government Responded

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“They took my small child who had only a

common cold. When they heard he was the

son of a rebel, they killed the child…They

came and took twenty-eight goats and sheep

from my place. Then they went looking for my

other home. They took eighty sheep and

goats and burned the village. Then they…

went to my cattle camp and took one hundred

cows and three girls…My wives went and built

another home at a distant place…They came

and broke down the home…They caught my

little girl and took her away. The women they

threw into…a big fire. You know those big

Dinka huts that are raised on high platforms.

They put fire under the hut. The hut was

turned into an oven in which the women

burned” (Marlowe).

Chief Stephen Thongkol Anyijong of Atwot

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Previously, we and the Arabs exchanged

marriage…It was a complete community life.

In the past, in peace time, the Arab nomads

moved from south to the north of Darfur after

the rainy season. They would spend the whole

winter in the north, with us, with Fur, Masalit,

with any tribe. We would help each other.

When someone lost some of his livestock,

everyone came and helped seek the lost

animals. We built good relations between us.

Definitely, some conflicts happened between

individuals, and then the tribal leaders and the

elders sat together and solved the problem…

After the livestock grew bigger, and the

number of citizens themselves grew larger,

the farmers needed a wider area of land to

plant for their food, and the herders also

needed a wider area for their livestock. The

needs of the life for the herders and the

farmers came into conflict, and the

government found the chance to wedge

between the two and keep them separate and

push them towards war (Marlowe).

An Elder In Darfur

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The government deployed its troops to outside areas

(near El Fashir) and killed people. They captured

some of them and dragged them through the streets

of El Fashir and burned them in front of a crowd of

spectators. In a town north of El Fashir, all of us saw

a man who was captured by the government. They

brought him in broad daylight. They tied his hands

behind him, tied his legs, strung him in the tree, and

burned a plastic tire on top of him. The plastic tire

melted on his body. The Janjawid and the

government rape girls. They cut the woman’s

vagina with a knife. In Jebbel Marra, we saw a

pregnant woman murdered by the Janjawid. They

cut her womb. There were twins, the babies were

still alive. This is a horrible image” (Marlowe).

Darfurian Testimonial

Through the Eyes of Children

“Sudanese soldiers are abducting women at gunpoint and leading them away from their village.Some soldiers are hiding in trees and ambushing villagers. Airplanes and helicopters target homes and set themon fire” (Powers).

“The young boy was nine when his village in Darfur was attacked by Sudanese government forcesand Janjaweed militias in 2003. This drawing depicts in detail some of the exactions committed by theJanjaweed (on foot and on horses) and the Sudanese forces (in tanks, machine-gun-mounted vehicles, and planes)” (Powers).

“A twelve-year-old Darfuri boy created this drawing which depicts his village in Darfur being attacked when he was eight years old. The drawing shows crops that were destroyed by a militia group, people being killed, and houses being burned down. Militiamen on camels, some on foot, and others in trucks, are seen attacking the village” (Powers)

“The Sudanese military

are hiding in trees and shooting

Darfuri civilians. The drawing

also depicts houses burning after

being bombed by military

helicopters and jets.

Reinforcements, including

armored tanks and trucks

mounted with heavy machine

guns, are coming into the village”

(Powers).

Efforts to find a solution to the conflict in Darfur began almost as soon as the severe warring broke out in 2003 (Lugman). The Chadian President Idress Derby led the Abeche mediation, which led to the signing of the Abeche ceasefire on September 3, 2003. The agreement quickly collapsed due to the many provisional violations committed mostly by the government and their armed militia (Lugman).

A Solution

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The African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) was

launched in July 2004. This was a full peace-

keeping mission with very specific objectives;

to protect civilians, safe delivery of

humanitarian aid, and to monitor the ceasefire

agreement between two rebel groups and the

government of Sudan (Lugman). The Darfur

Peace Agreement was signed on May 5, 2006,

but was doomed to fail. Mostly because not all

groups agreed to the conditions of the

agreement (Lugman).

Inadequate funding for AMIS, which comes from foreign countries (the U.S., Europe, Canada, and others) a lack of experience, and a lack of personnel resulted in the incapability of AMIS to carry out their mission. They were also not capable of holding the responsible parties accountable for their part in the conflict (Lugman). This led to the deployment of the UNAMID, The United Nations African Human Mission in Darfur, who had adequate resources and backing to secure and protect in 2008(Lugman).

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UNAMID is currently the largest UN

peacekeeping mission in the world, with

an authorized troop strength at almost

20,000 (Lugman).

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“The Council express deep concern at the

deteriorating security

situation in some parts of Darfur, including ceasefire

violations,

attacks by rebel groups, aerial bombardment by the

Govermment

of Sudan, inter-tribal fighting, attacks on humanitarian

personnel

and peacekeepers, which have restricted

humanitarian access to

conflict areas where vulnerable civilian populations

reside, as

contained in the Secretary General report... The

Council calls

on all parties to cease hostilities, including all acts of

violence

committed against civilians, and urgently facilitate

unhindered

humanitarian access” (Lugman). As much as UNAMID

has tried to bring peace to Darfur, the process is still

in a state of limbo (Lugman). “Rather than been view

essentially as failure on the part of UNAMID, the

situation in Darfur is largely an indication of the

complexity of peacekeeping and the challenge of

negotiating

sustainable peace in the context of an intractable

conflict” (Lugman).

UN Security Council; Notes on Darfur July 2011

It has been ten years since Darfur was infiltrated and attacked by the Sudanese Government. Over 300,000 people have died and more than 3 million have been displaced (Kinnock).

Ten Years Has Passed

“Today in Darfur, the misery goes on, with indicted criminals going free, violence escalating and over 3 million people relying on food aid. Yet, most frighteningly, and in an appalling repetition of history, the Sudanese government has spent the past 18 months deploying the same brutal tactics it used in Darfur to crush an armed rebellion in another part of Sudan. Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states, often called the "Two Areas", are two little-known corners of one of the biggest countries in Africa, which might soon be as notorious as Darfur – unless the world takes action” (Kinnock).

Sudan Threatens to Repeat Darfur

“As in Darfur, civilians in the Two Areas, mainly women and children, have been caught in the crossfire as the Sudanese armed forces wage war far from the attention of the world's media. In an effort to drive the population from their land through fear and starvation, the government of Sudan has blocked humanitarian assistance to the Two Areas, targeted civilians through indiscriminate aerial bombardment and ground attacks, and carefully timed offensives designed to disrupt the planting and harvesting seasons” (Kinnock).

“The UN estimates that over 1.2 million people have been displaced or severely affected by violence. Many are living on one meal every five days; independent experts now warn that parts of southern Kordofan and Blue Nile face the very real prospect of a man-made famine by April 2013. Coping mechanisms have been largely exhausted and recent visitors report refugees resorting to eating roots and leaves and being forced to live in caves” (Kinnock).

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“As we recognize the ten-year anniversary of the

conflict in Darfur, it is time to learn from the lessons of

history. A decade ago, the UN security council

neglected atrocities in Darfur, failing to recognize the

significance of this remote conflict for wider peace

across the region – and doing so with devastating

consequences. This cycle threatens to recur, as the

security council – the world's premier body for peace,

security and the protection of people – remains largely

silent on the plight of the people of the Two Areas,

failing to back up its own resolutions on this conflict

and not putting its political muscle behind African

Union plans to end the suffering” (Kinnock).

NEVER AGAIN?

ReferencesAbiodun, O. (2011). Darfur: A complicated peace process?. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, 3(1), 183-207.

Kinnock, G., & Cappuano, M. (2013, March 10). A decade on, Sudan threatens to repeat the tragedy of Darfur. The Guardian [United Kingdm]. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/10/decade-on-sudan-tragedy-darfur

Lugman, S., & Omede, J. (2012). From AMIS to UNAMID : The African Union, the United Nations and the challenges of sustainable peace in Darfur, Sudan. Canadian Social Science, 8(1), 60-69.

Mamdani, M. (2009, June 8). There may have been no water, but the province was awash with guns. New Statesman, 138(4952), 34-37.

Marlowe, J., Bain, A., Shapiro, A., Rusesabagina, P., & Deng, F. M. (2006). Darfur diaries: Stories of survival. New York: Nation Books.

Powers, A., & Lewis, B. (2012). What the heart remembers: The women and children of Darfur. Art Documentation: Bulletin of the Art Libraries Society of North America, 31(1), 22-33.

Reyna, S. P. (2010). The disasters of war in Darfur, 1950-2004. Third World Quarterly, 31(8), 1297-1320.

Schimmer, R. (n.d.). Tracking the genocide in Darfur-population displacement as recorded by remote sensing (36). Retrieved from Yale University Genocide Studies Program website: http://www.yale.edu/gsp/gis-files/darfur/Tracking-Genocide-in-Darfur-by-Remote-Sensing_No.36.pdf

All pictures courtesy of Google Images unless otherwise noted