Darfur: What’s Happening and Why it Matters Here
You may have heard people talking about Darfur, seen it on the news, or seen “Save Darfur” signs on people’s bumpers. You may know that the Bush administration has labeled the war “genocide,” and that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and over two million displaced. But many of us don’t really understand what’s going on there, what needs to be done, and how it impacts the rest of the world.
In order to understand the Darfur conflict, we must look at its geography, ethnicity, and history. And in order to figure out what’s to be done, and whose responsibility it is to do it, we must look at the international impact of the situation.
Because it’s not just the violence in Darfur that makes it of international importance. The 2005 discovery of significant and untapped oil reserves has raised the stakes in Sudan by involving outside groups with a vested interest in gaining access to Darfur's oil.
Due to a combination of security and human rights concerns, however, many western governments and firms have withdrawn from the region. In November 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an Executive Order banning trade between the two countries, and investment by U.S.-owned businesses in Sudan.
In the Order itself, and a subsequent letter to Congress (Executive Orders do not require Congressional approval to take effect), Clinton called the policies and actions of the Government of Sudan a “threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” specifically citing “continued support for international terrorism; ongoing efforts to destabilize neighboring governments; and the prevalence of human rights violations.”
Click here to read the full text of Executive Order 13067 on Imposing Sanctions on Sudan.
Fearing large-scale protests by consumers and reprisals by influential advocacy groups, European companies have also been reluctant to invest in Sudan.
Despite these formal and informal sanctions, Sudan’s oil industry has flourished. Sudan stands out as an example of China’s policy to invest in and buy oil throughout the world, without regard to the policies of the governments it does business with. China buys much of Sudan's oil and has invested heavily in Sudan’s oil industry.
Geography
Darfur is the western region of Sudan, bordering Chad. The conflict has become a major issue for Chad as well, since thousands of Sudanese refugees have crossed its border.
Also geographically important are the seasonal fluctuations in the Sudan that pushed Northern Arabs to pastures in the Fur lands of South Darfur to look for water and grazing lands. Tensions over resources exploded into a civil war in 1987, which was briefly suspended in 1994 when the country was divided into three federal states by the Ali al Haj, the Minister of Federal Affairs.
The Fur, who are farmers, occupy the central part of the region, which has good soil and water resources. Also in this central zone are the non-Arab Masalit, Berti, Bargu, Bergid, Tama and Tunjur peoples, who are all sedentary farmers.
The Arabic word Dar means homeland, and the population of Darfur was divided into several Dars, not only of the Fur people, as its name suggests, but also of several other communities, determined by livelihood as much as ethnicity.
The northernmost zone is Dar Zaghawa, part of the Libyan Sahara, and inhabited by camel nomads: principally the Zaghawa and Bedeyat, who are non-Arab in origin.
Ethnicity
Most Sudanese are Muslim and speak Arabic, but the country is made up of several ethnic groups, predominantly the Arabs and Africans. African tribes such as the Fur, Massalit and Zaghawa have been the primary victims of militia attacks. This militia, known as the Janjaweed ("devils on horseback") was hired by the Sudanese government
itself in 2003 to systematically destroy the livelihoods of Darfurians by bombing and burning villages, looting any and all economic resources, and murdering, raping, and torturing innocent civilians. Initial recruits to the government war came mainly from two Arab groups - the failed nomads of North Darfur, and immigrants from Chad without land of their own.
The media often frame the violence in Darfur in terms of an Arab/African division, but this description is simplistic. The Janjaweed are described as Arab militias, but not all Arabs are fighting on the side of the Janjaweed. In fact, many Arabs in Darfur are opposed to the Janjaweed, and some are even fighting against them.
Intermarriage and coexistence in both social and economic terms have blurred the distinction between the groups in the Sudan, but the sedentary vs. nomadic character constitutes one of the main distinctions between them. Also members of African tribes speak their own dialect in addition to Arabic, while members of Arab tribes only speak Arabic.
History
Sudan’s history mirrors that of other nations of Africa. Its borders were drawn by European powers that colonized the region in order to extract natural resources. Specifically, the British claimed its boundaries without respect to the ethnic and religious borders existing before their arrival in the 19th century. Some say that the colonial powers purposely mixed ethnic and religious empires in order to control better the indigenous populations.
As a British colony, the Sudan was squeezed among French, Belgium and Italian colonial domains. In 1956, the Sudan gained independence through peaceful treaty and has since seen regular civil and religious wars. The will of the central authorities in the capital Khartoum to impose its Arab-Muslim national identity has met a strong and armed resistance by many other ethnic and religious groups in virtually every part of the country except the central and northern areas, controlled by the military regime.
The Darfurians don’t want autonomy, just basic representation in Sudan.
Oil and international interests
In May 2007, human rights group Amnesty International accused Russia and China of breaching a United Nations arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan, where they are used in "grave violations" of international law.
According to Human Rights First, a U.S.-based nonprofit group, a detailed study of Sudanese and U.N. trade data released on March 13th, 2008, showed that China was virtually the sole supplier of small arms to Sudan, which pays for the weapons with its growing oil revenues.
Although China has denied providing arms in violation of international law, the billions of dollars it has poured into the oil industry there have undoubtedly played a role in financing the proliferation of high tech weapons being used in the region.
As Sudan's closest economic, military and political partner, many feel that China has not only the responsibility, but also the leverage to pressure the Sudanese government to end the violence in Darfur. In addition, as host of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China faces additional international pressure to clean up its reputation on human rights.
A permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China was acting President when the Security Council approved a peacekeeping mission to Darfur in 2004, which has largely been judged as a failure.
The legacy of Western colonialism in Africa has made some African leaders skeptical of Western involvement in the conflict. Echoing Sudanese criticisms, President Qadhafi of Libya, said that “Western countries and America are not busying themselves out of sympathy for the Sudanese people or for Africa, but for oil and for the return of colonialism to the African continent,” he said.
The UN and US
Secretary of State Colin Powell first used the word "genocide" to describe the crisis On September 9, 2004, during testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
A Darfur Peace Agreement was signed on May 5, 2006 by both the government of Sudan and those rebelling against them, known as the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). But hopes for peace evaporated when the agreement was rejected by other groups in Sudan and the violence worsened after the signing.
Almost 3 months later, on August 31, 2006, the UN passed UN Security Council Resolution 1706, which called for the United Nations to send 22,500 UN troops and police officers to work with the undermanned African Union force, which originated in early July 2004, when both the African Union and European Union sent monitors to monitor the cease-fire signed in April 2004 in Sudan.
The government of Sudan rejected this combined African Union/UN force, despite the international community’s pleas. Furthermore, Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, considers the UN soldiers an occupying force and will not consider peace proposals until they are removed.
Conditions in Darfur continue to worsen, and the Janjaweed have reemerged as a stronger force. Many relief organizations are considering packing in and leaving the country as attacks on their bases have resulted in loss of supplies and lives.
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Congress could invalidate Bush’s executive order -- a move that would bring the matter to the courts -- or create new laws itself that the President has to follow.
