Darfur Genocide
Introduction
In Sudan, Africa, there is a conlfict between the government, which is mainly made up of Arabics, and the Native African tribes. This conflict has resulted in mass killings, along with rape of women and girls of all ages, and the destruction of villages. The Darfur genocide took place in Darfur located in Western Sudan around Central Africa. Darfur is about the same size as Texas and is populated by around 6 million people. The conflict involved Sudan government along with the Arabic Janjaweed Militias who were against the Sudan rebel groups made up of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) and the Darfuris people. The Sudan government which was made up of a majority of Arabic people who were not the natives to the land. The Arabic people came from Egypt and Libya in a goal to obtain Sudan's rich oil source. The SLA are not only fighting for Darfur, but also for the liberation of all Sudanese.
Why did the genocide happen?
Hot, dry weather conditions were the start of the "competition"
Roughly 60% of Darfuris are farmers and while most are black natives of Sudan, there are some Arabs living in the nation. The land of Darfur has gone through trauma with droughts and poor weather conditions htting the region in past decades, leaving the land and soil in rough condition to go crops and raise livestock. Because of this, the two groups began competing for the land . The conflict started when the Sudan Government started "dealing out the land" to villages and families. The problem with this was that Sudan's Government was dominated by Arabs and controversary was building up. In March 2003, Sudan Liberation Army and other rebel groups began attacking government targets because the SLA claimed that Sudan's government favoured Arabs over black farmers. The competition became more violent, with the government army fighting back, and having more rebel groups join the fight for equality. More factors that lead to the genocide included Sudan's capitiol, Khartoum's failure to respond to the desperate economic needs of the country, the lack of judiciary and political representation, and in particular, the growing impunity on the part of arab raiders, which was the reason for the rise to the full-scale armed conflict.
The regime didn't switch away from a strategy of direct confrontaion, until the SLA had success wth one of their attacks. The new strategy of the government was a policy of systematicallly destroying the African tribal groups, who were percieved as the civillian base of support for the insurgents. The Janjaweed, which is loosely organized Arab militia force of perhaps 20,000 men, is the primary key or part in the new policy.
The regime didn't switch away from a strategy of direct confrontaion, until the SLA had success wth one of their attacks. The new strategy of the government was a policy of systematicallly destroying the African tribal groups, who were percieved as the civillian base of support for the insurgents. The Janjaweed, which is loosely organized Arab militia force of perhaps 20,000 men, is the primary key or part in the new policy.
What happened in the genocide?
A youbg boy holds bullet casings he found outside his village
As said before the Sudanese were tired of having to share the land with the Arabs so they protested to the government. The government who was mostly Arab based then sent Janjaweed on the Sudanese to kill them. They systematically came to villages and murdered the Sudanese and the Sudanese rebels that stood up to the government- Genocide.
In March 2003 fighting breaks out in western Darfur between government forces (Janjaweed) as well as the government army for support, and the rebels from the Sudan liberation army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). A lot of people left as refugees to surrounding countries and even more were displaced and in humanitarian aid. The UN did start to get involved by launching and appeal for 16.6 million to help the refugees. Refugee numbers in Chad, a neighbouring country, have now reached 65,000, and UN agencies estimate at least 500,000 people in Darfur need humanitarian aid.
The SLA and the JEM had started off by winning some of the battles but then quickly started falling and losing. around early december 2003 A fresh round of attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias – including the burning of villages and the murder and rape of civilians – prompts at least 10,000 new refugees to Chad. On April 2 2004 it has been officially said that a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed militants against Darfur’s black African population is taking place.
The war and killings continue without slowing, so at a UN meeting in june 2004 held in Geneva, the agencies called for even more help than they were planning, $236 million to help the people in Darfur and Chad. In early 2005 the sudan government and the rebels sign a peace agreement, it includes a permenant cease fire and the sharing of wealth and power. The UN Security Council started to put sactions on those who violate the agreement shortly aftarwards and those people will have to go to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well.
In August 2005 the vice president and former rebel leaders plane crashes and they are both killed. This starts another serge of fighting. A power-sharing government is formed in Khartoum, Sudan's capital in September of 2005. This new government and the SLA do sign a peace accord but there are a couple smaller rebel groups that do not so the fighting still continues. Sudan rejects the UN's offer of sending a peacekeeping force in to Darfur saying it would compromise sovereignty. But after the heaviest fighting between the rebel groups and Sudanese forces in 2006 Sudan says it will accept UN forces to reinforce the African union peacekeepers who have been there for six months in 2007. Also in 2007 the UN finally issues sanctions on Sudan and sends the leader of the Janjaweed to the ICC. Just after this happened the UN Security Council agrees to send even more forces to Darfur to help. In early 2008 the UN takes over the peace force in Darfur.
The Sudan president and the president of Chad start to work together in 2008 to enforce the 2005 peace deal and to end the fighting. A rebel group then attacks the government again and Chad is accusesd. More fighting breaks out because of this. In late 2008 the UN arrested the president of Sudan and accused him of genocide, but he denies any involvment. The rebels keep fighting even after a cease fire was called and say that they will continue untill they get what they want.
After convictions and peace deals and even more fighting over a span of 4 years (2009-2012) the governments say that the war and genocide is "over".
In March 2003 fighting breaks out in western Darfur between government forces (Janjaweed) as well as the government army for support, and the rebels from the Sudan liberation army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). A lot of people left as refugees to surrounding countries and even more were displaced and in humanitarian aid. The UN did start to get involved by launching and appeal for 16.6 million to help the refugees. Refugee numbers in Chad, a neighbouring country, have now reached 65,000, and UN agencies estimate at least 500,000 people in Darfur need humanitarian aid.
The SLA and the JEM had started off by winning some of the battles but then quickly started falling and losing. around early december 2003 A fresh round of attacks by Arab Janjaweed militias – including the burning of villages and the murder and rape of civilians – prompts at least 10,000 new refugees to Chad. On April 2 2004 it has been officially said that a campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed militants against Darfur’s black African population is taking place.
The war and killings continue without slowing, so at a UN meeting in june 2004 held in Geneva, the agencies called for even more help than they were planning, $236 million to help the people in Darfur and Chad. In early 2005 the sudan government and the rebels sign a peace agreement, it includes a permenant cease fire and the sharing of wealth and power. The UN Security Council started to put sactions on those who violate the agreement shortly aftarwards and those people will have to go to the International Criminal Court (ICC) as well.
In August 2005 the vice president and former rebel leaders plane crashes and they are both killed. This starts another serge of fighting. A power-sharing government is formed in Khartoum, Sudan's capital in September of 2005. This new government and the SLA do sign a peace accord but there are a couple smaller rebel groups that do not so the fighting still continues. Sudan rejects the UN's offer of sending a peacekeeping force in to Darfur saying it would compromise sovereignty. But after the heaviest fighting between the rebel groups and Sudanese forces in 2006 Sudan says it will accept UN forces to reinforce the African union peacekeepers who have been there for six months in 2007. Also in 2007 the UN finally issues sanctions on Sudan and sends the leader of the Janjaweed to the ICC. Just after this happened the UN Security Council agrees to send even more forces to Darfur to help. In early 2008 the UN takes over the peace force in Darfur.
The Sudan president and the president of Chad start to work together in 2008 to enforce the 2005 peace deal and to end the fighting. A rebel group then attacks the government again and Chad is accusesd. More fighting breaks out because of this. In late 2008 the UN arrested the president of Sudan and accused him of genocide, but he denies any involvment. The rebels keep fighting even after a cease fire was called and say that they will continue untill they get what they want.
After convictions and peace deals and even more fighting over a span of 4 years (2009-2012) the governments say that the war and genocide is "over".
Statistics
During the genocide there was a multitude of crimes and ways they were commited. The people that commited these crimes were mainly the Janjaweed. The crimes the Janjaweed commited were the things that contributed to the genocide and the mass killings. Some of the wrong they did to the Africans would be burning their villages, murdering people, raping girls of all ages, and displacing people so that they were without the nessesities of life and dying as a result. Since the genocide started in 2003 there has been over 400,000 deaths, that means that there would have been about 150 deaths per day, and the killings are said to still be going on now. Out of all the deaths about 97% of them were innocent people. Around 90% of the villages in Darfur have been destroyed. 3 million people in Sudan have been displaced and are either in refugee camps, where the deaths continue, or they are just wandering. The people that are in the camps are dying because of the diseases that get passed easily in the crowded camps and because of the tendency of the camps to get attacked by the Janjaweed militants.
Promotion for the Hatred
Sudan President, Omar al-Bashir
In Darfur, the Islamic-Arabic ethnicity has an ethnocentric attitude, which means they believe they are better than the native Africans, and the president Omar al-Bashir, is the king of this belief. He may not have given great speeches like Adolf Hitler, but he leads by example and his fellow Arabs will stand by him. For example, the government has been trying to enforce the new Sudanese legal system, and get rid of the traditional system of dealing with intertribal disbutes. This means that the travelling courts are dealing with intertribal issues and the courts have favored the Arab tribes because they prefer muslim over non-muslims. Also, Outside forces have been trying to undermine the similarities between the people of Darfur and draw them to opposition with each other.