A Brief History of Darfur, Sudan

Darfur is a region in Sudan, which is located in mideastern Africa. This region is currently the setting for widespread famine and death. These tragedies have been brought on by conflicts between rebels and the Sudanese government, in conjunction with the infamous Janjaweed militia. Darfur has been brought to the world’s attention because of these issues and with good reason. Darfur is an ethnically diverse region that has a rich African and Arab history. It is a shame that the region may be destroyed by war and its people scattered to the four winds or killed.

The very first settlers of Darfur lived in the lands surrounding Jebel Marra, an extinct volcano. These people were known as the Daju. The Daju disappeared from history when they were replaced in the region by the Islamic Tanjur, during the 14^th century. The Keyra-Fur Sultanate was established and came to control the Darfur region in the 17th century. Darfur soon became successful through slave trade, ivory trade, raiding and local warring. It is important to note that today, despite the fact that there are various ethnic groups in Darfur, both African and Arab, the people of the region are strictly Muslim. The current conflicts are not about religion.

The sultan of Darfur was overthrown by a slave trader named Rahma al-Zubayr in 1874. Rahma al-Zubayr was soon overthrown himself and Darfur came under the control of the British in 1898. This caused much chaos in Darfur and the people became lawless. Local forces fought the foreign forces and the people fought each other. In 1899 the chaos subdued, for a brief period, when Ali Dinar Zakirayya was made Sultan by the British. Ali Dinar Zakirayya was a grandson of one of the former Keyra-Fur Sultans of Darfur. Darfur was independent once again.

Sultan Ali Dinar Zakirayya refused to cooperate with British or French troops, who were gaining control of the surrounding areas, at the time. He was killed by British troops in November of 1916. Darfur was taken over by the British three months later and made a part of Sudan. The region’s renewed independence had only lasted seventeen years. Sudan was given its independence from the British in 1956. Darfur was now under Sudanese government. By that time, northern and southern Sudan were at war. Arabic northern Sudan was defended by the Sudanese government; non-Arabic southern Sudan, by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. A peace treaty between the two warring sides was signed in 1972, but it was largely ignored. The war officially began again in 1983. However, it was almost as if it had never stopped.

Meanwhile, Darfur had been plagued by periods of drought since the 1960’s. This had caused some fighting amongst the different peoples of the region. The local herders needed rich pastures and everyone needed water, so areas where water was available were often encroached upon and tensions became high. The governments of both Sudan and Libya were recruiting fighters from Darfur for their various conflicts. There was also weapon smuggling occurring in the area, which only sufficed to increase tensions and conflicts in Darfur. A famine (that was apparently ignored by the government) in the mid 1980’s and the Arab-Fur war from 1987-1989 even further increased the poverty and the violence in Darfur. This may have been the time the people of the region began to feel alienated from the rest of Sudan.

In 1989 the National Islamic Front seized control of the Sudanese Government and declared war on southern Sudan. The National Islamic Front brought tensions to a new high in Sudan. They housed Osama bin Laden between 1991 and 1996 and were suspected to be involved in other terrorist activities. This got the attention of the United States who demanded that they get bin Laden out of the area. In 1998 the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were attacked and the U.S. took military action against Sudan. The U.S. also became involved in Sudan during peace negotiations between northern and southern Sudan. These were completed in 2005 and the war came to an end. However, the peace negotiations did nothing for Darfur.

The seeds of rebellion had been planted in Darfur for the past few decades. The situation came to a head in 2003. Several rebel groups had formed, some of the claiming that the government neglected Darfurians of non-Arab descent. There were two major rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. These two groups joined forces and began engaging the Sudanese military in 2003. They were able to inflict significant damage to government property. It was then that the Sudanese government made a decision that would bring Darfur into the national spotlight.

A militia group known as the Janjaweed had been in the Darfur area for some time. They had been used in some conflicts in Darfur during the 1980’s but were not prominent in the area, as of yet. The Sudanese government decided to recruit these men and send them into Darfur to quell the rebellion. It is thought that the government did this, rather than send in their own troops, in order to deny culpability for the atrocities that were to follow. The Janjaweed became a plague in Darfur. They attacked every village they thought, or claimed to think, were associated with the rebels. These villages are often burned to the ground; their people killed, raped or left without homes.

It has been nearly seven years since the conflict between the Sudanese government and the rebels in Darfur broke out. Nearly three million people have had to leave their homes. Many of these people are women who were victims of sexual violence. Estimates put the dead at more than 400,000. Roughly 150,000 are dead as a direct result of violent acts. The rest are dead from malnutrition, hunger and disease. Most, nearly all, in fact, were civilians.

Some groups are reluctant to call the tragedies in Darfur genocide. Others see it as nothing less than such. The United States government officially declared it genocide in 2004. The reason for this is that groups within Darfur that are accused of having ties with the rebels are targeted, including civilians (babies and children are not shown mercy). Some of these groups have been nearly obliterated because of the conflict. The violence kills some and makes it nearly impossible for the rest to survive. The contention with some is that it may not be the intention of the Janjaweed to wipe out these groups entirely, which does not fit with the term “genocide.” Either way, it is certainly a black mark on the history of Darfur that may not be able to be erased without the help of the rest of the world.

* Note: At the time this article was written, there are conflicting reports regarding the end of conflicts in Darfur. Some claim that the crisis is over, while others say that the tragedies continue to occur on a daily basis. At this juncture, it is difficult to know which reports are correct. However, it is certain that the people of Darfur continue to need aid, such as medical supplies, food and water.