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CRISIS PROFILE-What's going on in Sudan's Darfur?
14 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT
Source: AlertNet - background material
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What is the humanitarian crisis in Darfur?
Attacks by government troops and Arab militia have forced about 1.2 million people, mostly black villagers, from their homes in western Sudan. Many have gone to live with families in other parts of Darfur, and about 130,000 have fled across the border into Chad. As many as 50,000 have died in violent raids over the past year and reports continue of massacres, rape, torture and looting despite a nominal ceasefire.
Warning of mass starvation and epidemics, the United Nations has described the situation as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Relief workers are rushing to get desperately needed food, water and medicine to hundreds of thousands but much of the aid is not getting through.
What’s holding up the aid?
U.N. officials accuse Khartoum of restricting access for aid agencies and journalists, despite promises to the contrary. There’s also the remoteness of the area. Darfur’s population of seven million is scattered over a harsh desert area of about 200,000 square km (125,000 square miles). That’s almost as big as the island of Great Britain.
So why are the attacks happening?
The simplistic answer is that Sudanese troops are trying to put down a rebel movement, bombing towns and villages suspected of supporting insurgents. Rights groups also accuse the government of committing ethnic cleansing and backing the raiding militia. Khartoum denies this, saying the militia are merely outlaws.
Has this got anything to do with oil?
Some aid agencies think it might well be the reason the Sudanese government wanted to clear people off the land. Khartoum announced in April 2005 that its ABCO corporation had started drilling in Darfur, and it expected the oil field to be a big one.
So this has nothing to do with Sudan’s war between north and south, which seems to be coming to an end?
It's confusing, but most analysts say there is a connection. Belgian-based think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) argues that the government in Khartoum is using delays in the north-south peace process to pursue its agenda in Darfur, knowing the international community would be reluctant to complain too loudly for fear of jeopardising the north-south talks. It also says the refusal of the government and the southern-based Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) to include anyone else in their negotiations fueled the uprising by Darfur rebel groups, who felt left out of the carve-up of power and resources.
But the conflict has local roots too?
Local divisions are also feeding the war. Ethnic differences have been exaggerated by local leaders and there is a battle over resources.
What are the ethnic groups in the area?
The displaced people are mostly black African farmers. The militia -- known as Janjaweed -- come from Arab pastoralist communities, who herd camels in northern Darfur and live on cattle herding in southern Darfur. Nomadic groups from further north have been pushed south over time as the desert has grown and droughts made water scarce. Both groups are dark-skinned and Muslim, and have intermarried for centuries. Ethnic identities used to be much more blurred, but leaders have exaggerated the differences since the late 1980s, when the militia campaigns began.
So is it a struggle between pastoralists and farmers over land?
Partly. Land used to belong to tribes, so Darfur was the place of the Fur people, an African group. There are at least 36 main tribes in the region. Some of the Arab peoples felt they were left out of the system that gave more "dars" -- or districts -- to non-Arab communities. Traditional conflicts were not usually very violent. Respected local councils used to settle disputes, but these were abolished by the Khartoum government after it came to power in a coup in 1989, leaving no peaceful mechanisms for solving conflicts.
The government of Lieutenant-General Omar Hassan al-Bashir is a hardline Islamist government that upholds sharia -- Islamic law. Human Rights groups accuse Khartoum of torture and severe repression of religious freedoms and political opposition.
Why would the government support the militia?
The war between the government and rebels in the south is often depicted as a conflict between the Arab, Muslim north and the black animist or Christian south, but it has also been significantly fuelled by divisions over control of oilfields and political power. The ICG says the removal of so many people from their homes in Darfur appears to be part of a government policy of ethnic cleansing in order to cripple any support for the rebel movements, who are hostile to Khartoum.
Who are the rebels?
The two armed movements in Darfur are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). Their platforms are hazy, but they call for inclusion in their fair share of power, and an end to marginalisation from centralised Khartoum decision-making. This echoes the grievances of about 30 armed groups in the south and elsewhere, who all argue that too much power -- and in many cases, oil revenues -- goes to Khartoum.
Many commentators say the conflict in Darfur is being exploited in the struggle for power over Sudan's Islamist movement. Hassan al-Turabi, an Islamist who was influential in the government but split with them in late 1999, has since voiced his support for the rebels, increasing Khartoum's anger against him and the rebels. Darfur's rebel groups also appear to have made links with the SPLA in the south.
The SLA's support base comes largely, but not entirely, from the Fur, Massaleit and Zaghawa tribes. The JEM is mostly Zaghawa-based. To make things even more complicated, the Zaghawa are camel herders, not agriculturalists. And to make things even more complicated, the Zaghawa have strong ties to Chad.
So how is Chad involved?
Even this isn't straightforward. Chad's president, Idriss Déby, is a Zaghawa, and three successive presidents have launched their bids for power with ethnic militias partially based in Darfur. And there is some evidence that Chad might have helped to channel arms to Darfur. Despite all this, Chad's government has also backed Khartoum.
Why are observers so alarmed about the conflict in Darfur, apart from the obvious humanitarian crisis?
There is a real fear that the conflict could destabilise the whole country. Analysts say that when marginalised regions of Sudan see that the south appears to be have gained its autonomy through battle, they will try the same route, especially if they're left out of peace talks. Some observers say Darfur could lead to a split in the government, since some Khartoum politicians have ethnic links to the rebels. ICG says the stability of Chad's government could also be threatened. Any splintering of central government could undermine north-south peace agreements, which are still not set in stone.
Sudan came third in AlertNet's top 10 "forgotten" emergencies poll. Aid experts say why they chose it:
EXPERTS TALK-Sudan’s deadly conflicts
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