Sudan: A History in Three-Part Disharmony (Part III)

by Michelle

Published October 06, 2008 @ 03:18AM PT

Episode 3 of 3 (but hardly the final chapter): The Genocide in Darfur. Its roots, its beginning, but sadly, not its end.

300,000 dead, 2.5 million displaced, and counting.

The conflict in Darfur initially grew out of tensions over land and water, but quickly assumed a political character.

Desertification eroded arable land and drought made water increasingly scarce, bringing nomadic herders from the north and farming communities in the south into competition for vital resources. However, the overlap of the North/South Civil War and Khartoum’s racist and power-grabbing policies elevated the land conflict to a political quagmire.

The Beginning

While Khartoum was preoccupied with Second Civil War with the South, Darfur became increasingly marginalized. In addition to arming Arab groups in Darfur to fight rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (the armed wing of the SPLM), the government intervened in local land conflicts on Darfur, siding with militia formed by Arab herders, called the Janjaweed—which translates roughly as “devil on horseback”—as they encroached on the land of non-Arab farmers. The violent conflicts and spurts of ethnic cleansing in the 1980s and 90s set in motion a pattern of violence—a “practice run,” so to speak—that would soon be deployed in full-scale genocide.

The peace process between the North and South in the early 2000s completely neglected the conflict in Darfur. Non-Arab groups formed the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) to protect their people from escalating attacks by the government-backed Janjaweed, and in February 2003, and launched its first attack on a government air force base in El Fasher, North Darfur. The newly-formed Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)* —a mostly Islamic, of the Zaghawa (non-Arab) group joined the armed resistance soon after, adding to the list of grievances the economic and political marginalization of the region.

(* The supposedly-official websites of the rebel groups are linked here—not in necessary in support of them, but for educational purposes.)

A Familiar Pattern

Darfuri resistance was now a more organized, credible threat than in the past. Khartoum once again armed the Janjaweed, recruited new members to swell their ranks, and promised land, money, and total impunity for the cleansing of the three largest non-Arab tribes in Darfur, the Fur, Massaleit, and Zaghawa.

Following the first attack, which caught them completely off-guard, Khartoum and its proxy, the Janjaweed, embarked on a scorched earth policy, targeting civilians for total destruction in an effort to quell the insurgency. Attacks begin, usually before dawn, with aerial bombings by the Sudanese air force, after which government forces and Janjaweed militia sweep through a village. Those not killed outright were driven into the desert, and wells, crops, and food supplies were poisoned to cut off all means of survival should anyone try to return. Systematic rape is a particular specialty of the Janjaweed.

When Will It End?

Attempts at peace negotiations have been frustratingly unsuccessful, and prospects for peace are made increasingly difficult as the rebel groups in Darfur continue to fracture. Only one rebel faction signed Darfur Peace Agreement on May 5, 2006, essentially rendering the agreement null and void, and negotiation efforts since have been negligible. An African Union (AU) peacekeeping force of 7,000 deployed in August 2004, and the UN approved a hybrid AU/UN force—known as UNAMID—but the force does not have the troops or equipment to protect itself from attacks, let along protect civilians.

Stay tuned…

For upcoming posts on recent events, including the recent increase in violence, the status of the peace process, the role of the international community, and the ICC indictment proceedings against al-Bashir.