War in Darfur
The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War,[note 1] was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population.[33][34] The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.[35]
"Situation in Darfur" redirects here. For the criminal investigation by the International Criminal Court, see International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur.
One side of the conflict is mainly composed of the Sudanese military, police, and the Janjaweed, a Sudanese militia group whose members are mostly recruited among Arabized indigenous Africans and a small number of Bedouin of the northern Rizeigat; the majority of other Arab groups in Darfur remained uninvolved.[36]
The other side is made up of rebel groups, notably the SLM/A and the JEM, recruited primarily from the non-Arab Muslim Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit ethnic groups. The African Union and the United Nations also have a joint peacekeeping mission in the region, named UNAMID. Although the Sudanese government publicly denies that it supported the Janjaweed, evidence supports claims that it provided financial assistance and weapons and coordinated joint attacks, many against civilians.[37][38] Estimates of the number of human casualties range up to several hundred thousand dead, from either combat or starvation and disease. Mass displacements and coercive migrations forced millions into refugee camps or across the border, creating a humanitarian crisis. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell described the situation as a genocide or acts of genocide.[39]
The Sudanese government and the JEM signed a ceasefire agreement in February 2010, with a tentative agreement to pursue peace. The JEM has the most to gain from the talks and could see semi-autonomy much like South Sudan.[40] However, talks were disrupted by accusations that the Sudanese army launched raids and air strikes against a village, violating the Tolu agreement. The JEM, the largest rebel group in Darfur, vowed to boycott negotiations.[41]
The August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, signed by military and civilian representatives during the Sudanese Revolution, requires that a peace process leading to a peace agreement be made in Darfur and other regions of armed conflict in Sudan within the first six months of the 39-month transition period to democratic civilian government.[42][43]
A comprehensive peace agreement was signed on 31 August 2020 between the Sudanese authorities and several rebel factions to end armed hostilities.[44]
History[edit]
Beginning[edit]
Authors Julie Flint and Alex de Waal date the beginning of the rebellion to 21 July 2001, when a group of Zaghawa and Fur met in Abu Gamra and swore oaths on the Quran (Nearly all of Darfur's residents are Muslim, including the Janjaweed, as well as the government leaders in Khartoum.)[55] to work together to defend against government-sponsored attacks on their villages.[56] The rebels' first military action was a successful attack on an army garrison on 25 February 2002. The government had been aware of a unified rebel movement since an attack on the Golo police station in June, 2002. Flint and de Waal place the start of the Darfur Genocide on 26 February 2003, when a group calling itself the Darfur Liberation Front (DLF) publicly claimed responsibility for an attack on Golo, the headquarters of Jebel Marra District. By this point several rebel attacks had been carried out against police stations, army outposts and military convoys and the government engaged in a massive air and land assault on the rebel stronghold in the Marrah Mountains.
On 25 March 2003, 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 in both the south, where the Second Sudanese Civil War was drawing to an end, and the east, where rebels sponsored by Eritrea were threatening a newly constructed pipeline from the central oilfields to Port Sudan. The rebel guerilla tactic of hit-and-run raids proved almost impossible for the army – untrained in desert operations – to counter. However, its aerial bombardment of rebel positions on the mountain was devastating.[57]
Coverage by the media[edit]
Watchers of the Sky, a 2014 documentary by Edet Belzberg, interviews former journalist and United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power about the war in Darfur. Also featured is Luis Moreno Ocampo, former ICC jurist and lead prosecutor on the ICC investigation in Darfur.[293][294] The Brutality of the militias, the violence which was used by the armed forces, the corruption and the human rights abuses were also shown on ER television series (e.g. episodes 12x19, 12x20), as well as in the 2007 documentaries They Turned Our Desert Into Fire[295] and The Devil Came on Horseback.[296]
