The Sudanese government has supported war crimes that so far have killed thousands and displaced more than one million indigenous people in the country’s Darfur region, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) reports.
In a report released May 7, the High Commissioner says that refugees and internally displaced peoples interviewed during a fact-finding mission in April and May claimed that the Sudanese government had mobilized a largely Arab guerilla force, known as the Janjaweed, to target and attack civilian populations from the Zaghawa, Fur, and Masaalit tribes. Members of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), armed groups who have committed hostilities against the government since early 2003, are from these tribes. The earliest reported Janjaweed attacks occurred in March 2003.
"What appears to have been an ethnically based rebellion has been met with an ethnically based response, building in large part on long-standing, but largely hitherto contained, tribal rivalries," the UNHCHR report states.
Located in western Sudan, the Darfur region is home to a complex mix of more than 36 ethnic groups. Reports of Darfur’s population vary from 3.5 million to six million people. Fur, Zaghawa, and Massalit people speak Nilo-Saharan languages and practice Islam in addition to some traditional religious practices. Arab Muslims, who practice cattle herding, are minorities in Darfur, said Mazia Montemurro, a United Nations Development Program volunteer working in N’djamena, Chad.
Indigenous tribes and Arab migrants have coexisted for centuries, each with their own dar, or homeland, Montemurro said. Dominant tribes welcomed the settlement of other groups and recognized each in local governments. But in the past 30 years, recurrent episodes of drought and desertification plagued the Darfur region, leading to conflicts over resources and livestock within and between Arab and non-Arab groups.
Since February 2003, the SLA and JEM rebel groups have taken up arms against the government, demanding reparation of the marginalization of Darfur and denouncing the government’s failure to protect the indigenous population from Arab nomad raiders.
"The patterns of violence point to an intent on the part of the Sudanese authorities to subjugate those populations perceived to be providing a support base for the rebels," the UNHCHR report states. But the report also notes, "There was a striking silence, in discussions with those displaced, on the matter of the SLA and JEM rebels. The vast majority of people with whom the [fact-finding] mission spoke claimed that there had been no armed men among their communities. "
The Sudanese government has "orchestrated the violence by using differences among groups and creating a situation of ethnic division," said Fur tribal member Ali Dinar, who immigrated to the United States 1987 and is now a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
"Conflicts over land disputes have never flared to this stage," Dinar said. "The government has used malicious tactics to fight its own people in order to maintain control. It is a war waged by the government disguised as militia against its own citizens."
Human Rights Watch alleges that the Sudanese government has recruited more than 20,000 Janjaweed fighters, which it pays, arms, and clothes in military uniforms. The non-governmental organization also alleges that the Sudanese army has conducted joint operations to clear areas inhabited primarily by Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghwa.
Reports from Amnesty International delegates in Darfur and neighboring Chad detail abuses including the killing of sedentary populations, the rape of women and even gang rape committed on children, the burning of villages, and the pillage of property and livestock. The UNHCHR fact-finding mission also found evidence of such abuses, and labeled them as war crimes and crimes against humanity in violation of several conventions of international humanitarian law. The mission estimated that over one million people have been displaced within Sudan, and about 110,000 people have fled to Chad.
Under heavy international pressure, a ceasefire was signed on April 8. The BBC reported on June 3 that representatives of the Sudanese government and Darfur rebel groups were meeting to discuss delivery of humanitarian aid. But reports say the ceasefire has already been broken, and a monitoring force has yet to be established.
The rainy season approaches within six weeks, along with the guarantee of impassable roads. Already, humanitarian work with refugees in Chad has been hampered by the scarcity of land and water, the length of the Chad-Sudan border, and poor transport networks. The World Health Organization is seeking $7.6 million to aid its response in Darfur. Officials from donor countries met June 3 with United Nations agencies in Geneva, and the BBC reported that the United Nations asked for $236 million for humanitarian aid work. According to the BBC, the United States has pledged $188 million over 18 months, and the European Union has pledged 10 million Euros. Even if full-fledged aid operations begin now, the United Nations officials told the BBC, 300,000 people will die.
