The Refugee situation in Darfur, Sudan(size? Texas or France)

Human Development IndexSudan

-Population: 42.3 million mid-2009

Less than 15: 41%

Over 65: 3%

-Life expectancy: 58

-Infant Mortality Rate: 81 out of 1000 births (Iceland 2.5)

-Fertility Rate: 4.5

-Using birth control: 8%

-Literacy Rate: 61%

-School Enrollment: 40%

-GDP Per Capita/PPP: $1130 (World Bank 2008)

-Urban: 38%www.undp.org

www.prb.org

Republic of Sudan Profile

• GDP Per Capita/PPP: $1130 (World Bank 2008)

• Exports:

-oil

-cotton

-sesame

-livestock and hides

-gum arabic (natuaral gum made of hardened sap from the acacia tree, used in ink, printing, paint, glue, cosmetics

• Sudan’s name comes from the Arabic “bilad al-sudan” meaning “land of the blacks”

-Religions: Islam, Christian, Animist

-Languages: Arabic, Nubian, others

-monetary unit: Sudanese dinar

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/820864.stm

History of Conflict• Most of the history of

Sudan is consumed with tensions over land and grazing rights between

1. Arabs, nomadic

herders 2. Black Africans,

mainly farmers

Transhumance: seasonal movement of livestock to exploit specific locally varying pasture conditions.

History

• 1956-1972: 1st Civil War

Fight for control over the central government between:

-Arab Muslims in the North

and

- Black African Christians in the South

History Cont.2nd Civil War 1983-2005

1. Gov’t implemented Islamic law across the country-angered southern non-Muslims

2. Oil discovered in the 60’s, mostly in southern and central Sudan, Gov’t controlled the revenues

3. 1989 Omar Hassan al-Bashir led a bloodless coup and overthrew Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi

NIF party (National Islamic Front)Banned political parties and

dismantles parliament

Since 2005• 2.5 Million

displaced persons in crowded, unsafe camps run by the African Union, UNHCR, and other aid organizations

• 250,000 refugees in Chad

Sudan Today• High levels of poverty• Lack of infrastructure like paved roads, sanitation,

and medical facilities outside of urban centers• Lack of representation in the government by some

groups• Other groups wish autonomy (Southern)• Gov’t supports Arabs and marginalizes Black

Africans• Gov’t lack of support during drought and near-

famine conditions• Gov’t says the conflict is competition for land

among ethnic groups

Arab Janjaweed: Pro-Government Militia

-Armed horsemen-Supports the “Arabization” of

DarfurWants to eliminate Black Africans-Targets civilians and villages,

claims harboring rebels-Aerial Bombing of villages, gov’t

denies but has the helicopters and planes

-Gov’t denies association with Janjaweed calling them “rebels” and “thieves” but does not stop them

-SAF Sudanese Armed Forces (Government) in alliance with Janjaweed

Ethnic Violence: Janjaweed and SAF: Sudanese Armed Forces

“Scorched Earth Campaign”

• Poison wells• Burn villages

and crops• loot• Rape women• Kill men• Abduct children

from villages to fight

Deserted villages

Gu

African Opposition Groups1. SLM Sudanese Liberation

Movement AKA -Sudanese Liberation Army2. Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) 3. JEM Justice and Equality

MovementGuerilla Warfare

Groups have split into smaller factions

U.N. estimates there are 30 opposition groups competing for power and influence

Recruit children 9-16 from refugee camps

International Aid Efforts

• Other factions

rob international

aid efforts and

convoys for food

and supplies

NGOs=non-governmental organizations

Refugees flee into Chad and Central African Republic

http://www.unhcr.org/4b6305939.html

• Refugees from Darfur call for improved educational facilities in eastern Chad camps

• News Stories, 29 January 2010

• © UNHCR/A. Rehrl

• Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Janet Lim visits a mother with her new-born baby in Djabal refugee camp.

• GOZ BEIDA, Chad, January 29 (UNHCR) – Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad told a senior UNHCR official this week that they need better educational facilities for their children, while Chadians displaced within their own country said they were worried about food shortages in the coming year.

• The call came on Thursday when Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Janet Lim visited Djabal, one of 12 UNHCR-run camps in eastern Chad hosting some 250,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region. There are also some 166,000 internally displaced Chadian nationals in the east.

Settlements in DarfurIDPs

http://www.wfp.org/videos/chad-refugees-darfur

• http://www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/chad/page.do?id=1011132

• Why are Chadian Refugees moving to Darfur camps?

Omar Hassan al-Bashir

• Sudan President Bashir denies working with or supporting the Janjaweed.

• He claims that the situation is not genocide but ethnic groups fighting over land

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/

U.S. Statements

• 2004 Secretary of State Colin Powell:

• Darfur is a “site of genocide”

• President George Bush claims in 2005

• “clearly genocide”

United Nations 2005• “Massive violence in

region, can’t call it genocide…no evidence of intent to kill an entire racial, ethnic or religious group.”

• 2005 Peace Accord:

Some autonomy for south and share oil revenues with north

In the north, pro-Arab factions have carried out ethnic cleansing against non-Muslims in Darfur.

Darfurhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/820864.stm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19362881/ns/today/

• Interview with Ann Curry of NBC in 2007 with Sudan President Bashir about ethnic violence in Darfur.

2008http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/30/picture.1.png&imgrefurl=http://insidethemiddleeast.blogs.cnn.com/

2009/03/30/sudanese-president-defies-arrest-warrant/&usg=__uk1yvlUs9As3YhGlGy_g4JvT2i0=&h=900&w=1440&sz=498&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=SMYEk5IOCMHXmM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq

%3DSudan%2BPresident%2BBashir%26imgsz%3Dl%26imgtbs%3Dz%26as_st%3Dy%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS294US295%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

• Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, of the International Criminal Court, accused President Bashir of crimes against humanity, and war crimes but didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute for genocide.

Bashir orders Aid agencies to leave Sudan: refugees lack water

• President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ordered 13 foreign aid agencies to leave north Sudan in March, and closed three local groups, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him to face charges of war crimes in Darfur. Bashir accused the groups of passing information to the Hague-based court, an accusation they denied.

No one was immediately available for comment from Sudan's Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. In the past it has said the work of expelled groups has been taken up by local organisations and new international groups. Khartoum mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the Darfur revolt, unleashing a wave of violence that Washington and some activists call genocide.

Sudan's government dismisses the accusation and says the Western media have exaggerated the conflict. Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the conflict range from 10 000, according to Khartoum, to around 300 000, according to UN humanitarian chief John Holmes. - Reuters

2009• Omar Hassan Ahmad al-

Bashir, president of Sudan, sits in the Plenary Hall of the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 12th African Union Summit Feb. 2, 2009.

• The assembly endorsed the communique, issued by the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, to defer the process initiated by the International Criminal Court to indict Bashir. These charges are also opposed by the League of Arab Nations, Non-Aligned Movement(not associated with any major power block), Russia and China.

2010• Sudan: ICC prosecutor expects Bashir genocide charge

[SABCNews: 2010-01-28]

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said today that he expects judges to add a charge of genocide within weeks against Sudan"s "fugitive" President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir last March on seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan"s Darfur conflict, including murder, rape and torture, but ruled it had insufficient grounds for a charge of genocide. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocamp. . .

•

• http://www.africanewssearch.com/olink.php?ARG1=http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=90ea23df71676210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default%20&channelPath=Africa%20>>%20East%20Africa&ARG2=370954

Currently

• Bashir steps down as Chief of the Army

• Bashir promises to support a referendum for southern secession in 2011 (part of the cease-fire Peace Accord of 2005)

• Bashir runs for re-election April 2010

April 2010 Presidential Elections

Some candidates:

• YASIR ARMAN - SUDAN PEOPLE'S LIBERATION MOVEMENT: Representing the marginalized southern voters

• OMAR HASSAN AL-BASHIR - NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY: 74 Year old Current

President, indicted on war crimes

• SADEQ AL-MAHDI - UMMA PARTY: northern region, Prime Minister ousted by Bashir in 1989 Coup

• ABDALLAH DENG NHIAL - POPULAR CONGRESS PARTY: south Sudanese

Muslim

• HATIM AL-SIR - DEMOCRATIC UNIONIST PARTY: support of Muslims

Resources:www.prb.org

www.unhcr.org

http://www.africanewssearch.com/olink.php?ARG1=http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=90ea23df71676210VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default%20&channelPath=Africa%20>>%20East%20Africa&ARG2=370954

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/30/picture.1.png&imgrefurl=http://insidethemiddleeast.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/30/sudanese-president-defies-arrest-warrant/&usg=__uk1yvlUs9As3YhGlGy_g4JvT2i0=&h=900&w=1440&sz=498&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=SMYEk5IOCMHXmM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSudan%2BPresident%2BBashir%26imgsz%3Dl%26imgtbs%3Dz%26as_st%3Dy%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS294US295%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19362881/ns/today/

Darfurhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/820864.stm

http://allafrica.com/sudan/