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Darfur conflict

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military History and War

   Darfur Conflict
   Irregular combatants in North Darfur. The Arabic text on the bumper
   says "The Sudan Liberation Army" (SLA).

     Date   2003–present
   Location Darfur
    Result  Humanitarian catastrophe (est. 200,000-400,000 or more dead and
            2,500,000 refugees)
            Merged into the Central African War
   Combatants
   JEM factions
   NRF alliance
   Alleged: Flag of Chad  Chad Janjaweed
   SLM Minnawi Faction
   Flag of Sudan  Sudan AMIS
   Commanders
   Ibrahim Khalil
   Ahmed Diraige Omar al-Bashir
   Minni Minnawi
   Strength
   7,000 (March 2007)
   Casualties
   At least 2 KIA

   The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region
   of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group
   recruited from the tribes of the Abbala Rizeigat ( Bedouin Arabs), and
   the non- Baggara people (mostly land-tilling tribes) of the region. The
   Sudanese government, while publicly denying that it supports the
   Janjaweed, has provided money and assistance and has participated in
   joint attacks with the group, systematically targeting the Fur,
   Zaghawa, and Massaleit ethnic groups in Darfur. The conflict began in
   July 2003. Unlike in the Second Sudanese Civil War, which was fought
   between the primarily Muslim north and Christian and Animist south, in
   Darfur most of the residents are Muslim, as are the Janjaweed.

   After fighting worsened in July and August 2006, on August 31, 2006,
   the United Nations Security Council approved Resolution 1706 which
   called for a new 17,300-troop UN peacekeeping force to supplant or
   supplement a poorly funded, ill-equipped 7,000-troop African Union
   Mission in Sudan peacekeeping force. Sudan strongly objected to the
   resolution and said that it would see the UN forces in the region as
   foreign invaders. The next day, the Sudanese military launched a major
   offensive in the region. (See New proposed UN peacekeeping force)

   There are various estimates as to how many deaths have occurred.
   However they all concur that the range is within the hundreds of
   thousands. The UN estimates that the conflict has left as many as
   450,000 dead from violence and disease. Most NGOs (non-governmental
   organizations) use 200,000 to over 400,000, a figure from the Coalition
   for International Justice that has since been cited by the United
   Nations. Sudan's government claims that 9,000 people have been killed,
   however this figure is seen as counterfactual. As many as 2.5 million
   are thought to have been displaced as of October 2006. (See Counting
   deaths section, below) The mass media once described the conflict as
   both " ethnic cleansing" and " genocide," and now do so without
   hesitation. The United States government has described it as genocide,
   although the United Nations has declined to do so. (See List of
   declarations of genocide in Darfur) In March 2007 the U.N. mission
   accused Sudan's government of orchestrating and taking part in "gross
   violations" in Darfur and called for urgent international action to
   protect civilians there.

List of abbreviations

   The following is a list of abbreviations used in this article:

   AU: African Union
   DLF: Darfur Liberation Front
   IDP: Internally Displaced Person
   JEM: Justice and Equality Movement
   NRF: National Redemption Front
   SLA: Sudan Liberation Army
   SLM: Sudan Liberation Movement
   SPLA: Sudan People's Liberation Army
   UN: United Nations
   UNSC: United Nations Security Council

Background

   The conflict taking place in Darfur has many interwoven causes. While
   rooted in structural inequality between the centre of the country
   around the Nile and the 'peripheral' areas such as Darfur, tensions
   were exacerbated in the last two decades of the twentieth century by a
   combination of environmental calamity, political opportunism and
   regional politics. A point of particular confusion has been the
   characterization of the conflict as one between ' Arab' and ' African'
   populations, a dichotomy that one historian describes as "both true and
   false". Western powers have also been accused of covertly exacerbating
   tensions to counter recent Chinese-Sudanese oil cooperation, and to
   deter further oil deals by China in the region.

   In the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, the Keira dynasty of
   the Fur people of the Marrah Mountains established a sultanate with
   Islam as the state religion. The sultanate was conquered by the
   Turco-Egyptian force expanding south along the Nile, which was in turn
   defeated by the Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi. The Mahdist
   state collapsed under the onslaught of the British force led by Herbert
   Kitchener, who established an Anglo-Egyptian co-dominium to rule Sudan.
   The British allowed Darfur de jure autonomy until 1916 when they
   invaded and incorporated the region into Sudan. Within Anglo-Egyptian
   Sudan, the bulk of resources were devoted toward Khartoum and Blue Nile
   Province, leaving the rest of the country relatively undeveloped.
   An internally displaced persons camp in Darfur
   An internally displaced persons camp in Darfur

   The inhabitants of the Nile Valley, which had received the bulk of
   British investment, continued the pattern of economic and political
   marginalization after independence was achieved in 1956. In the 1968
   elections, factionalism within the ruling Umma Party led candidates,
   notably Sadiq al-Mahdi, to try to split off portions of the Darfuri
   electorate either by blaming the region's underdevelopment on the
   Arabs, in the case of appeals to the stationary peoples, or by
   appealing to the Baggara semi-nomads to support their fellow Nile
   Arabs. This Arab-African dichotomy, which was not an indigenously
   developed way of perceiving local relations, was exacerbated after
   Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi became focused on establishing an Arab
   belt across the Sahel and promulgated an ideology of Arab supremacy. As
   a result of a sequence of interactions between Sudan, Libya and Chad
   from the late 1960s through the 1980s, including the creation of the
   Libyan-supported Islamic Legion, Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry
   established Darfur as a rear base for the rebel force led by Hissène
   Habré, which was attempting to overthrow the Chadian government and was
   also anti-Gaddafi.

   In 1983 and 1984, the rains failed and the region was plunged into a
   famine. The famine killed an estimated 95,000 people out of a
   population of 3.1 million. Nimeiry was overthrown on 5 April 1985, and
   Sadiq al-Mahdi came out of exile, making a deal with Gaddafi, which
   al-Mahdi did not honour, to turn over Darfur to Libya if he was
   supplied with the funds to win the upcoming elections.

   In early 2003, two local rebel groups — the Justice and Equality
   Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) — accused the
   government of oppressing non-Arabs. The SLM, which is much larger than
   the JEM, is generally associated with the Fur and Masalit, as well as
   the Wagi clan of the Zaghawa, while the JEM is associated with the Kobe
   clan of Zaghawa. Later that year, leaders of both groups, the Sudanese
   Government and representatives of the International diplomatic
   community were brought together in Geneva by the Centre for
   Humanitarian Dialogue to look at ways of addressing the humanitarian
   crisis. In 2004, the JEM joined the Eastern Front, a group set up in
   2004 as an alliance between two eastern tribal rebel groups, the
   Rashaida tribe's Free Lions and the Beja Congress. The JEM has also
   been accused of being controlled by Hassan al-Turabi.

   On January 20, 2006, SLM declared a merger with the Justice and
   Equality Movement to form the Alliance of Revolutionary Forces of West
   Sudan. However, in May of that year, the SLM and JEM were again
   negotiating as separate entities.

History of the conflict, 2003-2007

   Darfur conflict

          SLM - JEM
   Government - Janjaweed

       International response
   African Union Mission in Sudan

   History of Darfur

     Bibliography

   The starting point of the conflict in the Darfur region is typically
   said to be 26 February 2003, when a group calling itself the Darfur
   Liberation Front (DLF) publicly claimed credit for an attack on Golo,
   the headquarters of Jebel Marra District. Even prior to this attack,
   however, a conflict had erupted in Darfur, as rebels had already
   attacked police stations, army outposts and military convoys, and the
   government had engaged in a massive air and land assault on the rebel
   stronghold in the Marrah Mountains. The rebels' first military action
   was a successful attack on an army garrison on the mountain on 25
   February 2002 and the Sudanese government had been aware of a unified
   rebel movement since an attack on the Golo police station in June 2002.
   Chroniclers Julie Flint and Alex de Waal state that the beginning of
   the rebellion is better dated to 21 July 2001, when a group of Zaghawa
   and Fur met in Abu Gamra and swore oaths on the Qur'an to work together
   to defend against government-sponsored attacks on their villages. It
   should be noted that nearly all of the residents of Darfur are Muslim,
   as are the Janjaweed and the government leaders in Khartoum.

   On 25 March, the rebels seized the garrison town of Tine along the
   Chadian border, seizing large quantities of supplies and arms. Despite
   a threat by President Omar al-Bashir to "unleash" the army, the
   military had little in reserve. The army was already deployed both to
   the south, where the Second Sudanese Civil War was drawing to an end,
   and the east, where rebels sponsored by Eritrea were threatening the
   newly constructed pipeline from the central oilfields to Port Sudan.
   The rebel tactic of hit-and-run raids using Toyota Land Cruisers to
   speed across the semi-desert region proved almost impossible for the
   army, untrained in desert operations, to counter. However, its aerial
   bombardment of rebel positions on the mountain was devastating.

   At 5:30 am on 25 April 2003, a joint Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and
   JEM force in 33 Land Cruisers entered al-Fashir and attacked the
   sleeping garrison. In the next four hours, four Antonov bombers and
   helicopter gunships, according to the government, (seven according to
   the rebels) were destroyed on the ground, 75 soldiers, pilots and
   technicians were killed and 32 were captured, including the commander
   of the air base, a Major General. The success of the raid was
   unprecedented in Sudan; in the 20 years of the war in the south, the
   rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had never carried out such
   an operation.

Unleashing the Janjaweed (2003)

   Internally displaced persons camp
   Internally displaced persons camp

   The al-Fashir raid was a turning point both militarily and
   psychologically. The armed forces had been humiliated by the al-Fashir
   raid and the government was faced with a difficult strategic situation.
   The armed forces would clearly need to be retrained and redeployed to
   fight this new kind of war and there were well-founded concerns about
   the loyalty of the many Darfurian non-commissioned officers and
   soldiers in the army. Responsibility for prosecuting the war was given
   to Sudanese Military Intelligence. Nevertheless, in the middle months
   of 2003, the rebels won 34 of 38 engagements. In May, the SLA destroyed
   a battalion at Kutum, killing 500 and taking 300 prisoners and in
   mid-July, 250 were killed in a second attack on Tine. The SLA began to
   infiltrate farther east, threatening to extend the war into Kordofan.

   However, at this point the government changed its strategy. Given that
   the army was being consistently defeated, the war effort depended on
   three elements: Military Intelligence, the air force, and the
   Janjaweed, armed Baggara herders whom the government had begun
   directing in repression of a Masalit uprising in 1996-1999. The
   Janjaweed were put at the centre of the new counter-insurgency
   strategy. Military resources were poured into Darfur and the Janjaweed
   were outfitted as a paramilitary force, complete with communication
   equipment and some artillery. The probable results of such a strategy
   were clear to the military planners; similar strategies undertaken in
   the Nuba Mountains and around the southern oil fields during the
   previous decade had resulted in massive human rights violations and
   forced displacements.

   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 Nations observer team reported that non-Arab villages
   were singled out while Arab villages were left untouched.:
   Destroyed villages as of August 2004 (Source: DigitalGlobe, Inc. and
   Department of State via USAID)
   Destroyed villages as of August 2004 (Source: DigitalGlobe, Inc. and
   Department of State via USAID)

     The 23 Fur villages in the Shattaya Administrative Unit have been
     completely depopulated, looted and burnt to the ground (the team
     observed several such sites driving through the area for two days).
     Meanwhile, dotted alongside these charred locations are unharmed,
     populated and functioning Arab settlements. In some locations, the
     distance between a destroyed Fur village and an Arab village is less
     than 500 meters.

   In 2004, Chad brokered negotiations in N'Djamena, leading to the April
   8 Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement between the Sudanese government,
   JEM, and SLM. A group splintered from the JEM in April — the National
   Movement for Reform and Development — which did not participate in the
   April cease-fire talks or agreement. Janjaweed and rebel attacks have
   continued since the ceasefire. The African Union (AU) formed a
   Ceasefire Commission (CFC) to monitor observance of the putative
   ceasefire.

   The scale of the crisis led to warnings of an imminent disaster, with
   United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that the risk of
   genocide is frighteningly real in Darfur. The scale of the Janjaweed
   campaign led to comparisons with the Rwandan Genocide, a parallel hotly
   denied by the Sudanese government. Independent observers noted that the
   tactics, which include dismemberment and killing of noncombatants and
   even young children and babies, are more akin to the ethnic cleansing
   used in the Yugoslav Wars but have warned that the region's remoteness
   means that hundreds of thousands are effectively cut off from aid. The
   Brussels-based International Crisis Group reported in May 2004 that
   over 350,000 people could potentially die as a result of starvation and
   disease.

   On 10 July 2005, Ex-SPLA leader John Garang was sworn in as Sudan's
   vice-president. However, on 30 July 2005, Garang died in a helicopter
   crash. His death had long-term implications and, despite improved
   security, talks between the various rebels in the Darfur region went
   slowly.

   An attack on the Chadian town of Adre near the Sudanese border led to
   the deaths of three hundred rebels in December 2005. Sudan was blamed
   for the attack, which was the second in the region in three days. The
   escalating tensions in the region led to the government of Chad
   declaring its hostility toward Sudan and calling for Chadian citizens
   to mobilise themselves against the "common enemy". (See Chad-Sudan
   conflict)

May Agreement (2006)

   Minni Minnawi was granted a press opportunity with U.S. President
   George W. Bush after signing the May agreement.
   Minni Minnawi was granted a press opportunity with U.S. President
   George W. Bush after signing the May agreement.

   On May 5, 2006, the government of Sudan signed an accord with the
   faction of the SLA led by Minni Minnawi. However, the agreement was
   rejected by two other, smaller groups, the Justice and Equality
   Movement and a rival faction of the SLA. The accord was orchestrated by
   the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick, Salim Ahmed
   Salim (working on behalf of the African Union), AU representatives, and
   other foreign officials operating in Abuja, Nigeria. The accord calls
   for the disarmament of the Janjaweed militia, and for the rebel forces
   to disband and be incorporated into the army.

July-August 2006

   During July and August 2006, fighting had been renewed, "threatening to
   shut down the world's largest aid operation" as international aid
   organizations considered leaving due to attacks against their
   personnel. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for
   bringing a force of 18,000 international peacekeepers to the region in
   order to replace the African Union force of 7,000 ( AMIS).
   Internally displaced women in North Darfur.
   Internally displaced women in North Darfur.

   On August 18, the deputy head of the UN Peacekeeping Forces, Assistant
   Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi, warned
   during a private meeting that Sudan appears to be undertaking
   preparations for a major military offensive in the region. The warning
   came a day after UN Commission on Human Rights special investigator
   Sima Samar stated that Sudan's efforts in the region remains poor
   despite the May Agreement. On August 19, Sudan reiterated its
   opposition to replacing the 7,000 AU force with a 17,000 UN one,
   resulting in the US issuing a "threat" to Sudan over the "potential
   consequences" of this position.

   On August 24, Sudan rejected attending a United Nations Security
   Council (UNSC) meeting to explain its plan of sending 10,000 Sudanese
   soldiers to Darfur instead of the proposed 20,000 UN peacekeeping
   force. The UNSC announced it will hold the meeting despite Sudan's
   refusal to attend. Also on August 24, the International Rescue
   Committee reported that hundreds of women were raped and sexually
   assaulted around the Kalma refugee camp during the last several weeks.
   The Janjaweed has used rape as a weapon. Culturally in the region,
   raped women are considered unclean, and are ostracized. Women are even
   raped in open, public places to increase humiliation for them and their
   families. The extent of rape used in attacks is likely greater than
   documented, because women who have been raped are usually reluctant to
   come forward. On August 25, the head of the US State Department's
   Bureau of African Affairs, Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazer, warned
   that the region faces a security crisis unless the proposed UN
   peacekeeping force is allowed to deploy.

   On August 26, two days before the UNSC meeting, and on the day Frazer
   was due to arrive in Khartoum, Paul Salopek, a US National Geographic
   Magazine journalist appeared in court in Darfur facing charges of
   espionage; he had crossed into the country illegally from Chad, due to
   the strict rules against foreign journalists. He was later released
   after direct negotiation with President al-Bashir. This came a month
   after Tomo Križnar, a Slovenian presidential envoy, was sentenced to
   two years for spying.

New proposed UN peacekeeping force

   On August 31, 2006, the UNSC approved a resolution to send a new
   peacekeeping force of 17,300 to the region. Sudan has expressed strong
   opposition to the resolution. On September 1, 2006, AU officials
   reported that Sudan has launched a major offensive in Darfur. According
   to the AU, over 20 people were killed and 1,000 were displaced during
   clashes that began earlier in the week. On September 5, Sudan has asked
   the AU force in Darfur to leave the region by the end of the month,
   adding that "they have no right to transfer this assignment to the
   United Nations or any other party. This right rests with the government
   of Sudan." On September 4, 2006, in a move not viewed as surprising,
   Chad's president Idriss Déby voiced support for the new UN peacekeeping
   force. The AU, whose peacekeeping force mandate expires on September
   30, 2006, has confirmed that they will do so. The next day, however, a
   senior US State Department official who declined to be identified, told
   reporters that the AU force might remain in the region past the
   deadline, citing this possibility as a "viable, live option."

Implementation failure (September 2006)

   On September 8, 2006, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for
   Refugees António Guterres, said Darfur faces a "humanitarian
   catastrophe." On September 12, 2006, Sudan's European Union envoy Pekka
   Haavisto claimed that the Sudanese army is "bombing civilians in
   Darfur" . A World Food Program official reported that food aid has been
   cut off from at least 355,000 people in the region. UN
   Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the UNSC that "the tragedy in Darfur
   has reached a critical moment. It merits this council's closest
   attention and urgent action."

   On September 14, 2006, the leader of the now defunct Sudan Liberation
   Movement, currently Senior Assistant to the President of the Republic
   and Chairman of the Regional Interim Authority of Darfur, Minni
   Minnawi, stated that he does not object to the new UN peacekeeping
   force, thereby breaking ranks with the Sudanese government who consider
   such a deployment to be an act of Western invasion. Minnawi claimed
   that the AU force "can do nothing because the AU mandate is very
   limited." Khartoum, however, remained sternly against the UN
   peacekeeping force, with Sudanese president Al-Bashir depicting it as a
   colonial plan, and stating that "we do not want Sudan to turn into
   another Iraq."

Deterioration (October-November 2006)

   On October 2, with the UN force plan indefinitely suspended on account
   of Sudanese opposition, the AU announced that it will extend its
   presence in the region until December 31, 2006. Two hundred UN troops
   were sent to reinforce the AU force. On October 6, the UNSC voted to
   extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan until April
   30, 2007. On October 9, the Food and Agriculture Organization listed
   Sudan's Darfur region as the most pressing food emergency out of the
   forty countries listed on its Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.
   On October 10, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise
   Arbour, claimed that the Sudanese government had prior knowledge of
   attacks by Janjaweed militias in Buram, South Darfur the month before,
   an attack which saw hundreds of civilians killed.
   Children in the camps are encouraged to confront their psychological
   scars. The clay figures depict an attack by Janjaweed.
   Children in the camps are encouraged to confront their psychological
   scars. The clay figures depict an attack by Janjaweed.

   On October 12, the Foreign Minister of Nigeria Joy Ogwu arrived in
   Darfur for a two-day visit. She urged the Sudanese government to accept
   a UN formula. Speaking in Ethiopia, Nigerian President Olusegun
   Obasanjo spoke against "stand[ing] by and see[ing] genocide being
   developed in Darfur." On October 13, US President George W. Bush
   imposed further sanctions against those deemed complicit in the Darfur
   atrocities under the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. The
   measures were said to strengthen existing sanctions by prohibiting US
   citizens from engaging in oil-related transactions with Sudan (although
   US companies were prohibited from doing any business with Sudan since
   1997), freezing the assets of complicit parties and denying them entry
   to the US.

   Because the African Union Mission in Sudan is underfunded and badly
   equipped, it is said that until December 31, violence in Darfur will
   worsen, with government troops and allied militias, as well as rebels,
   blamed for new attacks. But so far there is no agreement on what will
   happen after that date. Aid workers say their access is severely
   limited by fighting, and some have warned the humanitarian situation
   could deteriorate to levels seen in 2003 and 2004 when U.N. officials
   called Darfur the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

   On 22 October 2006, the Sudanese government told U.N. envoy Jan Pronk
   to leave the country within three days. Pronk, the senior U.N. official
   in the country, had been heavily criticized by the army after he posted
   a description of several recent military defeats in Darfur to his
   personal blog. On November 1, the US announced that it will be
   formulating an international plan which they hoped the Sudanese
   government will find more palatable. On November 9, senior Sudanese
   presidential advisor Nafie Ali Nafie told reporters that his government
   is prepared to start unconditional talks with the National Redemption
   Front (NRF) -the rebel alliance in Darfur- but noted he saw little use
   for a new peace agreement. The NRF, who had rejected the May Agreement
   (only an inter-SLM faction was signatory to it), did not issue a
   comment. It had previously sought a new peace agreement. In late 2006,
   Darfur Arabs started their own rebel group, The Popular Forces Troops,
   and announced on December 6 that they had repulsed an assault by the
   Sudanese army at Kas-Zallingi the previous day. In a statement, they
   called the Janjaweed mercenaries who do not represent Darfur's Arabs.
   Since 2003, numerous Darfur Arab groups have announced their opposition
   to the government's war, some signing political accords with rebel
   movements.

Proposed compromise UN force and Sudanese offensive

   On November 17, reports of a potential deal to place a "compromise
   peacekeeping force" in Darfur were announced, but would later appear to
   have been rejected by Sudan. The UN, nonetheless, claimed on November
   18 that Sudan agreed to the deployment of UN peacekeepers. Sudan's
   Foreign Minister Lam Akol stated that "there should be no talk about a
   mixed force" and that the UN's role should be restricted to technical
   support. Also on November 18, the AU reported that Sudanese military
   and Sudanese-backed militias had launched a ground and air operation in
   the region which resulted in about 70 civilian deaths. The AU stated
   that this "'was a flagrant violation of security agreements.'"

   On November 25, a spokesperson for United Nations High Commissioner for
   Human Rights Louise Arbour accused the Sudanese government of having
   committed "a deliberate and unprovoked attack" against civilians in the
   town of Sirba on November 11, which claimed the lives of at least 30
   people. The Commissioner's statement maintained that "contrary to the
   government’s claim, it appears that the Sudanese Armed Forces launched
   a deliberate and unprovoked attack on civilians and their property in
   Sirba," and that this also involved "extensive and wanton destruction
   and looting of civilian property."

January - April 2007 cease-fire agreement and its rapid dissolution

   According to the Save Darfur Coalition, New Mexico Governor Bill
   Richardson and President al-Bashir have agreed to a cease-fire whereby
   the Sudanese "government and rebel groups will cease hostilities for a
   period of 60 days while they work towards a lasting peace." In
   addition, the Save Darfur press release stated that the agreement
   "included a number of concessions to improve humanitarian aid and media
   access to Darfur." Despite the formality of a ceasefire there have been
   further media reports of killings and other violence. On Sunday April
   15, 2007 African Union peacekeepers were targeted and killed. The New
   York Times reported that 'a confidential United Nations report says the
   government of Sudan is flying arms and heavy military equipment into
   Darfur in violation of Security Council resolutions and painting
   Sudanese military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or
   African Union aircraft'. The violence has spread over the border to
   Chad. On March 31, 2007 Janjaweed militiamen killed up to 400 people in
   the volatile eastern border region of Chad near Sudan. The attack took
   place in March 31 in the border villages of Tiero and Marena. The
   villages were encircled and then fired upon. Fleeing villagers were
   later subsequently chased. The women were robbed and the men shot
   according to the UNHCR. There were many who despite surviving the
   initial attack, ending up dying later due to exhaustion and
   dehydration, often while fleeing.On April 14, 2007 more attacks within
   Chad were reported by the [UNHCR] to have occurred again in the border
   villages of Tiero and Marena. On April 18th President Bush gave a
   speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum criticizing the Sudanese
   government and threatened the use of sanctions if the situation does
   not improve. Sanctions would involve restriction of trade and dollar
   transactions with the Sudanese government and 29 Sudanese businesses.

International Criminal Court charges

   Sudan's humanitarian affairs minister Ahmed Haroun and a Janjaweed
   militia leader, known as Ali Kushayb have been charged with 51 counts
   of war crimes and crimes against humanity, by the International
   Criminal Court. Ahmed Haroun said he "did not feel guilty", his
   conscience was clear and that he was ready to defend himself.

May 2007

   Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and Chad president Idriss Deby
   signed an peace agreement On May 3, 2007 aimed at reducing tension
   between their countries. The accord was brokered by Saudi Arabia. It
   sought to guarantee that each country would not be used to harbour,
   train or fund armed movements opposed to the government of the other.
   The Reuters News Service reported that "Deby's fears that Nouri's UFDD
   may have been receiving Saudi as well as Sudanese support could have
   pushed him to sign the Saudi-mediated pact with Bashir on Thursday".
   Colin Thomas-Jensen, an expert on Chad and Darfur who works
   International Crisis Group think-tank has grave doubts as to whether
   "this new deal will lead to any genuine thaw in relations or
   improvement in the security situation". Additionally The Chadian rebel
   Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) which has fought a
   hit-and-run war against Chad President Deby's forces in east Chad since
   2006 stated that the Saudi-backed peace deal would not stop its
   military campaign. Only the carrot and stick of Saudi aid to the UFDD
   may have forced the Chad government to the table. Thus the agreement
   may end up hurting the Sudanese rebels the most, leaving the Sudanese
   government with a freer hand.

International response (2003-2004)

   The Save Darfur Coalition advocacy group coordinated a large rally in
   Washington, D.C. in April 2006
   The Save Darfur Coalition advocacy group coordinated a large rally in
   Washington, D.C. in April 2006

   International attention to the Darfur conflict largely began with
   reports by the advocacy organizations Amnesty International in July
   2003 and the International Crisis Group in December 2003. However,
   widespread media coverage did not start until the outgoing United
   Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Mukesh Kapila,
   called Darfur the "world's greatest humanitarian crisis" in March 2004.
   A movement advocating for humanitarian intervention has emerged in
   several countries since then.

   Gérard Prunier, a scholar specializing in African conflicts, argues
   that the world's most powerful countries have largely limited their
   response to expressions of concern and demands that the United Nations
   take action. The UN, lacking both the funding and military support of
   the wealthy countries, has left the African Union to deploy a token
   force ( AMIS) without a mandate to protect civilians. In the lack of
   foreign political will to address the political and economic structures
   that underlie the conflict, the international community has defined the
   Darfur conflict in humanitarian assistance terms and debated the
   "genocide" label.

Genocide claims

   On September 18, 2004, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1564,
   which called for a Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to assess the
   Sudanese conflict. The UN report released on January 31, 2005 stated
   that while there were mass murders and rapes, they could not label it
   as genocide because "genocidal intent appears to be missing".

   In 2005, Rep. Henry Hyde ( R- IL) and Sen. Sam Brownback ( R- KS)
   introduced the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which calls on the
   United States to take a more active role in stopping the alleged
   genocide, encourages NATO participation, and endorses a Chapter VII
   mandate for a UN mission in Darfur. The bill was passed by the House
   and Senate and as of August 2006 is in conference committee. In August
   2006, the Genocide Intervention Network released a Darfur scorecard,
   rating each member of Congress on legislation relating to the conflict.

Criticism of international response

   On October 16, 2006, Minority Rights Group (MRG) published a critical
   report, challenging that the UN and the great powers could have
   prevented the deepening crisis in Darfur and that few lessons appear to
   have been drawn from their ineptitude during the Rwandan Genocide.
   MRG's executive director, Mark Lattimer, stated that: "this level of
   crisis, the killings, rape and displacement could have been foreseen
   and avoided ... Darfur would just not be in this situation had the UN
   systems got its act together after Rwanda: their action was too little
   too late." On October 20, 120 genocide survivors of the Holocaust, the
   Cambodian and Rwandan Genocides, backed by six aid agencies, submitted
   an open letter to the European Union, calling on them to do more to end
   the atrocities in Darfur, with a UN peacekeeping force as "the only
   viable option." Aegis Trust director, James Smith, stated that while
   "the African Union has worked very well in Darfur and done what it
   could, the rest of the world hasn't supported those efforts the way it
   should have done with sufficient funds and sufficient equipment."

   Activists have recently focused their attention on China in particular,
   because of their financial and diplomatic support for Omar al-Bashir
   and the Sudanese government's proxy militias. Calls for sustained
   pressure and possible boycotts of the Olympics have come from French
   presidential candidate François Bayrou, actor and UNICEF Goodwill
   Ambassador Mia Farrow, Genocide Intervention Network Representative
   Ronan Farrow, author and Sudan scholar Eric Reeves and The Washington
   Post editorial board. Sudan divestment efforts have also concentrated
   on PetroChina, the national petroleum company with extensive
   investments in Sudan.

   On the opposite side of the issue, publicity given to the Darfur
   conflict has been strongly criticized in the Arab and Muslim world as
   exaggerated, an attempt "to divert the attention from the crimes being
   committed every day in Palestine and Iraq," and "a cover for what is
   really being planned and carried out by the Western forces of hegemony
   and control in our Arab world." While "in New York, ... there are
   thousands of posters screaming 'genocide' and '400,000 people dead," in
   reality only "200,000 have been killed and that what has been done" in
   Darfur is "not genocide," simply "war crimes." Another complaint is
   that "there is no ethnic cleansing being perpetrated" in Darfur, simply
   "great instability" and "clashes between the Sudanese government, rebel
   movements and the Janjaweed."

Counting deaths

   This mother had just arrived with her sick baby at Abu Shouk IDP camp
   in North Darfur.
   This mother had just arrived with her sick baby at Abu Shouk IDP camp
   in North Darfur.

   Accurate numbers of dead have been difficult to estimate, partly
   because the Sudanese government places formidable obstacles in front of
   journalists attempting to cover the conflict. In September 2004, the
   World Health Organization (WHO) estimated there had been 50,000 deaths
   in Darfur since the beginning of the conflict, an 18-month period,
   mostly due to starvation. An updated estimate the following month put
   the number of deaths for the 6-month period from March to October 2004
   due to starvation and disease at 70,000; These figures were criticized,
   because they only considered short periods and did not include violent
   deaths. A more recent British Parliamentary Report has estimated that
   over 300,000 people have died, and others have estimated even more.

   In March 2005, the UN's Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland
   estimated that 10,000 were dying each month excluding deaths due to
   ethnic violence. An estimated 2 million people had at that time been
   displaced from their homes, mostly seeking refuge in camps in Darfur's
   major towns. Two hundred thousand had fled to neighboring Chad.

   In an April 2005 report, the most comprehensive statistical analysis to
   date, the Coalition for International Justice estimated that 400,000
   people in Darfur had died since the conflict began, a figure most
   humanitarian and human rights groups now use.

   On 28 April 2006, Dr. Eric Reeves argued that "extant data, in
   aggregate, strongly suggest that total excess mortality in Darfur, over
   the course of more than three years of deadly conflict, now
   significantly exceeds 450,000," but this has not been independently
   verified.

   A 21 September 2006 article by the official UN News Service stated that
   "UN officials estimate over 400,000 people have lost their lives and
   some 2 million more have been driven from their homes." This now
   appears to be the official UN figure.

In popular culture

     * The Song "Al Genina (Leave The Light On)" by Our Lady Peace was
       influenced by lead singer Raine Maida's visit to war torn Darfur.
     * A documentary, The Devil Came on Horseback, is expected early 2007.
     * A story arc spanning several episodes and featuring several major
       characters of the television show ER takes place in the region.
     * An episode in the seventh season of the television show The West
       Wing, " Internal Displacement," deals with the conflict in Darfur.
       Actor Bradley Whitford later spoke out about the need for
       international involvement in Darfur.
     * A campaign was placed on MTV about raising the need for awareness
       about Darfur
     * On the popular CW show 7th Heaven, two episodes are dedicated to
       this crisis.
     * The comic book Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk, published
       by Marvel Comics, takes place in the region and highlights the
       conflict
     * In 2006 rapper Lupe Fiasco appeared on Late Night with Conan
       O'Brien as a musical guest and ended his performance with the
       statement "Peace in Darfur ladies and gentlemen".
     * The metal band 2050 released a song and music video named "Darfur"
       speaking of the conflict. The music video can be viewed at: Darfur
       Music Video.
     * Many Reggae and Dancehall artitst and DJs have expressed a concern
       about the situation and in the 2006 Dancehall tune, artist Capleton
       sings, "Dem nuh like we true mi a speak out fi Sudan."

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