Page 90 - History of War - Issue 18-15

BRIEFING

At the time, Sudan’s government practiced a Peacekeepers from UNAMID, which
limitedpolicyofinclusionthatbroughtmanyof is tasked with protecting refugee
Sudan’s tribal leaders, whether they were Arab camps from roving militiamen
ornot,intothefoldwithgovernmentjobsand
parliamentary representation.
Whentheseprivilegesdisappeared,dissent
began to spread. Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad,
a supporter of al-Turabi, collaborated with
multipleauthorstopublish The Black Book:
Imbalance Of Power And Wealth In The Sudan.
The incendiary volume not only cast a harsh
lightonSudan’sbigotedpowerstructure,it
became the foundational text for a grass-roots
opposition movement. To avoid the National
Intelligence Security Service (NISS) and the
watchful eye of the military, Khalil Ibrahim
organisedhisfollowersinaconvenientfringe
region: Darfur, his homeland.
In2003,fightersbelongingtotheJEM
attacked a military outpost. This random
event is cited as the initial spark that engulfed
Darfur. The response from Khartoum was
indeed brutal. Fearful that the JEM and the
SudanLiberationArmy(SLA)couldjoinforces
andattackthecapital,membersofal-Bashir’s
inner circle recruited leaders like Muhammad
HamdanDagoloandMusaHilal,thesonofa
popular tribal leader, to lead a rag-tag army
against the Darfuris.
Armedwithanassortmentofweaponsand
airsupport,theseArabraiders,theJanjaweed, A soldier from Chad’s
would shock the consciousness of the world national army carries
a rocket-propelled
andcertifySudan’spariahstatus.From2004
grenade launcher
andlate2005,inamere29monthsaccording
to some sources, they would butcher between
200,000 and 450,000 people and destroy
countless villages.
To comprehend the Janjaweed’s reign of
terror,recalltheongoingSyrianCivilWar.After
more than four years of relentless combat,
200,000Syriansareestimatedkilledand9
million have fled their homes. In Darfur, by
comparison, the Janjaweed killed as many
–ifnotmore–inhalfthetimeandravaged
an entire region. Darfur’s pre-war population
was estimated at 6 million. Total refugee and
internally displaced person numbers tallied
by aid groups match this figure. On their
own initiative, the Janjaweed wiped out the
equivalent of a small country.
Bloodbegetsblood
The veteran foreign correspondent Robert Fisk
once described war as the total failure of the
humanspirit.Thesamecouldbesaidofthe
poor response to the Darfur genocide, despite
the best efforts by journalists, NGOs and
activists. Although the international community
acted quickly, short of armed intervention,
the resulting long-term mission left much to
be desired. Beginning in 2003, contingents of
militaryandpolicepeacekeeperssentbythe
AfricanUnion(AU)beganarrivinginDarfur.

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
The African Union (AU) launches The Second Civil War officially A peace deal is signed in Abuja, The 10,000-strong UN/AU In May, the JEM launches a failed
the AU Mission in Sudan with ends with the signing of the Nigeria, with a breakaway Mission in Darfur arrives to attack on Khartoum from Darfur.
a peacekeeping objective. This Comprehensive Peace Agreement faction of the SLA led by Minni protect more than 2.5 million The lightning raid is carried out by
extends to 2005. Several dozen between Khartoum and the Minnawi. The other Darfur rebel internally displaced Darfuris. convoys of pickup trucks that race
observers arrive in Darfur followed SPLA/M. This paves the way for groups boycott the agreement Lack of co-ordination and across the desert and bush until they
by a substantial force of 3,000 the southern state’s secession six while the SLA splinters further logistical problems hamper reach Omdurman in the outskirts of
police and military personnel. years later. along tribal lines. their efforts. the capital.

90