Sudan

Sudan

Sudan is a country in central Africa that is rich in oil but poor in land. Only 6.78% of the land in Sudan is arable, a fact which has helped to fuel the conflict.

Darfur

Darfur is a region in Western Sudan, the vast majority of whom are black and Muslim. Darfur, roughly the size of France, is home to 8 million people, and dozens of different ethnic groups.

The most important divisions in terms of understanding the conflict in Darfur are between the sedentary farmers and the so-called "Arab" nomadic herders

Overview: Genocide in Darfur

The conflict in the Darfur region of the Sudan began in 2003, when government-backed militia groups called the Janjaweed stepped up raids and attacks against the region's farming communities.

The Sudanese government allegedly began arming and recruiting the Janjaweed from local Arab tribes when African rebel groups in Darfur, organized in response to a widespread perception of the Sudanese government's neglect of the region, began attacking government forces.

Since the conflict began, Darfur has become one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. As many as 300,000 people have died and over 1.8 million have been displaced

The Sudanese Government's Role in the Genocide

President Omar El Bashir's government in Khartoum has a strong Arab character and derives most of its support from the north of the country, which is largely Arab.

Interests in the Darfur Region: Several rebel groups in Darfur began attacking Sudanese army installations in 2003.

Role in the Conflict in Darfur: The Sudanese government sees the rebels in Darfur as a major threat, and has funded, armed and recruited militias - the Janjaweed - from local Arab tribes.

The Janjaweed target the mainly African civilian populations of Darfur while government forces bomb villages and sometimes conduct coordinated attacks with the Janjaweed.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly denied having any relationship with the Janjaweed, however, first-hand accounts suggest otherwise:

From an African civilian in Darfur:

"There have been three attacks [on my village] since October 2003, but the last attack [in early January 2004] was the worst. The first times, the men came on camels and horses and frightened us, but in the third attack they came by car and killed a lot of people. All the inhabitants fled at once after the last attack. The military told us they would erase us. We asked why they wanted to hurt us and they answered that it was none of our business, that orders came from above."

From a government soldier:

"We went to Adar [North Darfur] to fight in early 2003. We weren't told about the SLA, only that we were there to fight robbers. We [the government troops] were in green pickup trucks