The crisis in Darfur that began in early 2003 has since become what the UN has called the worst humanitarian crisis today.

The present Darfur conflict erupted in early 2003 when Justice and Equality Movement and Sudan Liberation Army/Movement rebels attacked and captured the capital in central Darfur.  They demanded inclusion in new power-sharing arrangements between the North and the South of Sudan.

Darfur, the western region of Sudan, has a population of close to 6 million people, and is approximately 250,000 square kilometers in size (a similar size to Texas or France).  The north and south of Sudan have been in conflict for twenty years and are currently involved in peace negotiations, which involve the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway (Troika) as mediators.

Rebellion in Darfur alarmed the Sudanese authorities, posing a threat to the continued viability of the country as a whole.  Authorities feared that similarly neglected regions in the East, taking their cues from Darfur, would demand large degrees of autonomy, if not the right to independence.  Khartoum became decidedly resolute about achieving a military solution to the crisis. This focus on keeping the Darfur region under control led to the violence, which ultimately led to over 400,000 deaths in the region.

The various economic, social and political reasons for the conflict are deeply woven into the fabric of the region, and make finding a peaceful agreement more difficult. Its economic roots lie in the competition over resources, such as land and water, between pastoralists (generally Arab Africans) and agriculturalists (generally non-Arab Africans).  Political marginalization has also contributed to the conflict.  Finally, it has acquired an ethnic component in which civilians are deliberately being targeted on the basis of their ethnicity.

The Sudanese government’s response has been to launch a counter insurgency that includes air raids, burning villages, and ground attacks by an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, recruited from local tribes and armed by the government. These two tactics were used to quell the uprising by killing thousands of people, mainly civilians.  Militia attacks and a scorched-earth government offensive have led to over 2.5 internally displaced people (IDP’s) who mostly flock to refugee camps in or the near the border of Chad . There are indiscriminate killings, lootings and mass rape, all in contravention of the 1949 Geneva Conventions that prohibits attacks on civilians.  According to the findings of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, January 25, 2005:

<blockquote>”government forces and militias conducted indiscriminate attacks, including killing of civilians, torture, enforced disappearances, destruction of villages, rape and other forms of sexual violence, pillaging and forced displacement, throughout Darfur. These acts were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis … The vast majority of the victims of all of these violations have been from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit, Jebel, Aranga and other so-called ‘African’ tribes.”</blockquote>

The continued process of ethnic cleansing has been carried out by targeting the black African tribes of the Darfur region, as well as through rape of the Darfurian women.

The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, due to ongoing state-sponsored violence, layers of aid obstruction, the lack of an overall humanitarian strategic plan, and the weakened state of displaced Sudanese. Refugees and IDP’s have been displaced for months on end, and this has weakened their physical condition due to the lack of food, water and shelter.  As need far outstrips the ability of agencies to deliver aid, it is not too soon to sound a famine alert.  Relief workers on the ground are convinced that few if any of the nearly 2 million IDPs will return to their homes in time for the next planting season, thus guaranteeing at least longer term food insecurity. The onset of the rainy season, which usually starts in late May, is further restricting access to the IDP’s by humanitarian groups, only worsening the already tragic conditions.  Without a safe place to begin rebuilding their lives, the suffering continues.  Infectious diseases and dysentery threaten to rapidly drive up the daily body counts.  The death toll from this conflict continues to grow, with an estimated 15,000 new deaths each month from starvation and disease (recent reports have sited up to 4million people in danger of starvation in the upcoming months).