What's Happening in Darfur?
The War in Darfur erupted in the three federal states of Darfur amongst armed groups and the government of Sudan in February 2003 over land disputes, government neglect and discrimination.
Darfur is located in Sudan and makes up one-fifth of the country. The clash has deep seeded roots in traditional tensions between the non-Arab and Arab population. However since both groups are African and Muslim the conflict is over tribal and cultural issues rather than religious differences.
War began in Darfur when the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement comprised of non-Arab farmers, attacked Sudanese military bases in the region. In retaliation of the attacks the Sudanese government responded with a brutal counter-insurgency campaign. A militia group comprised of nomadic Afro-Arab Abbala tribes from the Northern region of Rizeigat in Sudan, known as the Janjaweed, has carried out their own massacre of people in various villages in Darfur. The Sudanese government is accused of providing money and assistance to the Janjaweed although to which the government has publicly denied.
Violence in Darfur is typically carried out by the Janjaweed entering an area and destroying everything in their path. The Janjaweed sets fire to villages, killing the civilians and raping the women. Those lucky to escape the massacre must take a long journey to an Internally Displaced Persons camp.
Due to the violence and mayhem conducted in Darfur very few functioning villages are left standing. On the links page of this website a link to Google Earth is provided that shows the burning villages of Darfur. Many people are deprived of humanitarian support because aid workers are afraid of being attacked.
Since the onset of the conflict roughly 300,000 people have been killed according to UN records, while the former UN undersecretary general estimates that no less than 400,000 people. These numbers however do not take into account the amount of people that have died of starvation and disease out of the 3,000,000 displaced people in refugee camps.
Sources:
http://www.darfuraustralia.org/darfur/basics
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/Features/0,,2-11-37_1609178,00.html
http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/background
