Genocide In Darfur

Darfur is located in the western region of Sudan, adjacent to Chad and Central Africa. Darfur is ethnically and culturally diverse; its population is approximately 6 million people from as many as 100 tribes. The Darfur genocide was not an abrupt event; it was a culmination of incidents that raised ethnic tensions within the African country of Sudan. One can trace the start of the tension all the way back to 1989, when Omar al-Bashir came to power in a coup. It is his regime that has inflamed ethnic tensions and has committed mass atrocities.

The first event happened at The Sudanese El Fasher Air Base, which is located in the capital of North Darfur. Rebel forces, calling themselves the Darfur Liberation Front (DLF), which eventually

split into the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality movement (JEM) attacked the base in 2003. What heavy weapons and ammunition they could not take away with them, such as Antenov bombers and helicopter gunships, were severely damaged or destroyed. In total, more than 70 troops were killed and 7 planes destroyed. The rebel’s reason behind the attack was that the Sudanese government was not supporting the region economically even though there had been a long and costly drought. They also felt that the farming community of the region was not getting the necessary protection from attacks by nomads who were trespassing on their land for the small amount of water and natural resources available.
After the attack on the El Fasher Air Base, the government of Sudan did not negotiate, but instead supported militia comprised of recruits from some of Darfur's Arab tribes. This Arab force would infamously be known as the Janjawid, which translates to “devils on horseback”. This started the tragic genocide against black African non-Arab tribes by the Arab controlled government and its militia. Hundreds of non-Arab villages were attacked throughout Darfur, which made up a majority of the armed rebel groups - primarily the Zaghawa, Fur and Masalit.
Crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide were all committed in Darfur by the Sudanese Government.

The Darfur conflict is legally classified as genocide under the Statute of the International Criminal court because there was intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The intent to destroy a racial group is shown by claims that the Janjawid would yell “Masalit! Nuba! Kill them all!”, which are racial epithets. The Janjawid had similar rhetoric during rapes. The genocide in Darfur has claimed approximately 300,000 lives and displaced over 3 million people. As many as 3.2 million people remain in need of humanitarian assistance, which is more than a third of Darfur’s population. Even with this evidence there is a minority that argues that Darfur is not a genocide because genocidal intent ‘‘beyond reasonable doubt’’ has not been proven. One of the acts covered under crimes against humanity is sexual violence. One example of this used was when “Janjaweed militia wearing government uniforms attack a boarding school in Tawila, Darfur forcing 110 Zaghawa girls to strip naked at gunpoint before conducting multiple rapes and then setting the school on fire.” There were 14 incidents of mass killings in Dar Masalit alone between September 2003 and February 2004, attacks which left as many as 770 dead. The government used cruel tactics of bombing and burning villages, looting economic resources, and murdering, raping and

torturing non-combatant civilians. The tactics used that fall into the category of torture, extensive destruction, or willfully causing great suffering are war crimes because they are a breach of the Geneva Convention. Civilians were buried in mass graves with thousands of bodies in total. This intentional attack on civilians is also a war crime. There was a scorched-earth campaign conducted by government forces and Janjawid, which made a large amount of land uninhabitable; anything one can think of that helps sustain life was destroyed from wells, pumps, and orchards to mosques and farms. The attack on towns, villages, and buildings that are undefended and which are not military objectives fits into the statute of war crimes.
The international community made many at bringing an end to the conflict, whether it was through a peace agreement or humanitarian intervention.

While other attempts were unsuccessful, The Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) was in comparison moderately successful. The DPA, also known as the Abuja agreement, was signed on May 5th, 2006 by the Government of Sudan and one faction of the SLA. The other faction of SLA was left out, which hindered the success of the agreement. The DPA created a regional governing body, the Darfur Regional Authority (DRA), was established with a mandate of power-sharing, wealth-sharing and compensation. Later, President Bashir was found guilty on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Court released an arrest warrant for Bashir on the day of March 4 2009. The same month the government of Sudan expelled and suspended the operations of 13 international humanitarian aid organizations. At least 3 domestic aid organizations were halted in Darfur. The conflict has not been completely resolved because as recent as 2014 nearly 400,000 people were displaced from continued violence. Many people in Darfur still lack the necessary resources and struggle to live with the possibility of starvation or disease. There are still efforts to help Darfur such as Save Darfur or Eyes on

Darfur.