Darfur or The Land of Fur is located in western Sudan, in the central of Africa. This province covers an area of about 493 180 km². There are nearly 7.4 million people live in Darfur. Most of the populations in Darfur are black Africans, while the rest of them are Arabs.12 In the beginning of 2003, a conflict started in Darfur between rebels and the Sudanese government, which later assisted by the Janjaweed militiamen. It continues until now, with hundreds of thousands civilians died and moved away from their homes. In this essay, I would like to discuss the situation in Darfur and crisis following the conflict.
First of all, let’s talk about how this conflict started. The root of the conflict is the friction between the central and minor areas which already happened from long years ago, and worsen by natural disasters and political condition. Before Darfur became a part of Sudan, it was a sultanate established by the Fur people, which later conquered by the Turco-Egyptian ruler. In 1899, British conquered The Mahdist who ruled after the Turco-Egyptian, and then established Anglo-Egyptian condominium. After British integrate Darfur into Sudan, the natural resources were only distributed to the Nile region and Khaortum, abandoned the rest of other regions such as Darfur. This uneven distribution led Darfuris into a famine in 1983 and 1984, which killed an estimated 95,000 people there. The rebellion began in early 2003, when two indigenous rebel groups accused the government of repressing the non-Arab people (the black Africans), supported by the Arabs.4 They are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). The Darfur conflict started by an attack on Golu, the headquarters of Jebel Marra District by a rebel group called Darfur Liberation Front (DLF) in February 2003.But the real turning point was when SLA and JEM attack government’s army battalion at Al-Fashir, killed and destroyed most of the forces.3
Government started to organize strategies to defeat the rebels. The attack of Al-Fashir (called the Al –Fashir raid3) drove the government into a difficult situation. The government should develop their armed forces and ensured the loyalties of the Darfurian soldiers. The SLA continued to win battles against Sudanese Military Intelligence. In the middle of 2003, SLA began to infiltrate the eastern region after few battles against the armed forces and hundreds of people were killed from both sides, mostly from the military forces. The government decided to change its strategy. The war effort depended on three elements; Military Intelligence, the air force, and the Janjaweed. The Janjaweed are armed herders from Baggara, who had helped the government on a Masalit rebellion in 1996-1999.3 The government equipped them with weapons and sent them to confront the rebels, who they easily defeated. But they took it too far, killed and displaced thousands of civilians; most of them are non-Arabs, just like the website wikipedia stated:
The better-armed Janjaweed quickly gained the upper hand. By the spring of 2004, several thousand people — mostly from the non-Arab population — had been killed and as many as a million more had been driven from their homes, causing a major humanitarian crisis in the region. The crisis took on an international dimension when over 100,000 refugees poured into neighbouring Chad, pursued by Janjaweed militiamen, who clashed with Chadian government forces along the border. More than 70 militiamen and 10 Chadian soldiers were killed in one gun battle in April. A United Nation observer team reported that non-Arab villages were singled out while Arab villages were left untouched. 3
With increasing number of people died and suffered, many people tried to stop the conflict. Few countries, like Chad or even USA and the United Nation (UN) have arranged few agreements to stop the quarrel between Sudan government and the rebels, but none of them were fully succeeded. The two sides have done peace agreements, like the April 8 Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement and May agreement. The April 8 Humanitarian Ceasefire agreement was arranged by Chad, neighboring country of Sudan in 2004, but the war between the Janjaweed and rebels still continued after the ceasefire. In December 2005, the attacks reach Chadian town and killed thousands people there, made the government of Chad announce an opposition to Sudan government. In May 2005, U.S organized an agreement between SLA and Sudan government, but it was rejected by other local rebel groups. The United Nation also sent helps for Darfur. The UN sent the UN Peacekeeping forces to replace the limited authorized African Union.43 The Sudan government refused this idea and launched more military forces to Darfur, killed more than 20 people and displaced 1000 people. The crisis in Darfur drew international’s reaction. A united Nations Resident and Humanitarian for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila called Darfur the “world’s greatest humanitarian crisis”. An expert criticized that Darfur hasn’t got enough attention from developed countries. There was also a genocide (ethnic cleansing) suspicion happening in Darfur, considered the crisis and large number of people who have been killed, raped and displaced, but this opinion has been refused.3
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