The Daily Background

Allow me to make a confession. I heard that there was some ‘thing’ going on in a place called ‘Darfur’ quite a while back. For one reason or another, I never read up on it. I guess nobody presented me with a simple explanation of what the ‘thing’ was going on in this place I’d never heard of. I thought I might as well write one up myself.

***

Darfur is the western region of Sudan, a north African country (very close to the middle east) with a population of about 38 Million people (2003 estimate). Sudan is one of the largest countries in African in terms of land mass, as well as population.

In the region of Darfur, there is a government sponsored and supported Arab paramilitary group called the Janjaweed (although the Sudanese government denies affiliation with the militia, it’s pretty obvious to everybody that they’re allied).

For two, going on three years now, the Janjaweed group (spelling variations include Janjawid, Jingaweit, Jinjaweed, Janjawiid, Janjiwid) has been acting (with the unofficial support of the Sudanese government) to ethnically cleanse this western region of Sudan, called Darfur.

This ethnic cleansing by the Janjaweed claims the lives of mostly non-Arab Africans. The Sudanese government is considered Arab. Meanwhile, there are two rebel forces which are non-arab (who have, along with the Janjaweed, been accused of human rights violations).

It should be noted however, that this is not a race-war. It is partially motivated by different groups of people fighting for resources in a fairly heavily populated area. Both sides are Muslim– one is Arab Muslims, the other side are African Muslims. There is a long history of conflict between the two of them.

The ethnic cleansing began in early 2003, at a time when most countries (and their respective print and television journalists) were more focused upon what was about to play out in Iraq, shortly afterwards.

The ethnic cleansing has been occurring steadily, with periods of intensifying violence for the past two years (going on three). A ceasefire was signed in 2004, however ethnic cleansing has only intensified since then.

***
Related Posts:
Darfur: Let’s put this in context

Darfur: An inconvenient time for a genocide (Megapost)

Filed under: Darfur Related, Z-TDB Blog