Military
regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics
since independence from the UK in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged
civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These conflicts
were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of largely
non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972, but
broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in
more than 4 million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more
than 2 million deaths over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum
in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords; a final Naivasha peace treaty of
January 2005 granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years, after which a
referendum for independence is scheduled to be held. A separate conflict that
broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003 has resulted in at least
200,000 deaths and nearly 2 million displaced; as of late 2005, peacekeeping
troops were struggling to stabilize the situation. Sudan also has faced large
refugee influxes from neighboring countries, primarily Ethiopia and Chad, and
armed conflict, poor transport infrastructure, and lack of government support
have chronically obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected
population.
On
Our Watch - A documentary about genocide in Darfur
The
effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia fighting since the
mid-twentieth century have penetrated all of its border states that provide
shelter for fleeing refugees and cover to disparate domestic and foreign
conflicting elements; since 2003, Janjawid armed militia and Sudanese military
have driven about 200,000 Darfur region refugees into eastern Chad; large
numbers of Sudanese refugees have also fled to Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, the
Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; southern
Sudan provides shelter to Ugandans seeking periodic protection from soldiers of
the Lord's Resistance Army; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel
groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia have been delayed
by civil and ethnic fighting in Sudan; Kenya's administrative boundary extends
into the southern Sudan, creating the "Ilemi Triangle"; Egypt and
Sudan retain claims to administer triangular areas that extend north and south
of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel, but have withdrawn their
military presence; Egypt is economically developing the "Hala'ib
Triangle" north of the Treaty Line; periodic violent skirmishes with
Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral
populations from the Central African Republic along the border
Population:
41,236,378
The Darfur conflictis an
ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
George
Clooney & Don Cheadle on Dafur-part 1
The starting point of the
conflict in Darfur is typically said to be 26 February 2003, when a group
calling itself the Darfur Liberation Front (DLF) publically claimed credit for
an attack on Golo, the headquarters of Jebel Marra District. An estimated 2
million people have been driven from their homes, causing a major humanitarian
crisis in the region.
George
Clooney&Don Cheadle on the Dafur-Part 2
The majority of the displaced
people in Darfur—more than 2 million—are now living in camps where they are
almost entirely dependent on international humanitarian assistance. They cannot
leave the camps because they continue to be attacked by the militias.
The U.N. estimates that an
additional 1.5 million people, not displaced, are in need of humanitarian
assistance—a total of 3.5 million in Darfur, more than half its estimated
population of 6 million.
Estimates of deaths in the
conflict have ranged from 50,000 to 450,000 The mass media has described
the conflict as both "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide."
The rebels say the government is
oppressing black Africans in favor of Arabs.
Sudanese government forces and
ethnic militia called “Janjaweed” have engaged in an armed conflict with
rebel groups called the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
Darfur, which means land of the
Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the
mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa
communities.
On November 15, 2007, nine rebel
groups — six SLM factions, the Democratic Popular Front, the Sudanese
Revolutionary Front and the Justice and Equality Movement–Field Revolutionary
Command — signed a Charter of Unification and agreed to operate under the name
of SLM/A henceforth.
Data
compiled from The British Antarctic Study, NASA, Environment Canada,
UNEP, EPA and
other sources as stated and credited Researched by Charles
Welch-Updated dailyThis
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