"I must speak up, because so many of the women who survived the genocide are now dying of AIDS."

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Darfur Survival Campaign Fact Sheet

Sudan Background

Sudan, the largest country in Africa and the tenth largest country in the world, is home to 41 million people.
The population is 52% black ("non-Arab"), 39% Arab, 6% Beja, 2% foreigners, 1% other. The main religion is Islam (70%), but there are also Christians (5%) and indigenous beliefs (20%)
The Sudanese Government, the National Congress Party (formerly the National Islamic Front), led by President (General) Omer al-Bashir, took power in a military coup in 1989.

The Sudanese government unleashed two civil wars against its people in the south (Christians and animists) between 1955 and 1972 and began again in 1985. An estimated 2 million people died and 4 million were displaced. The conflict ended in 2005 with the signing of the North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
The Sudanese Army burned the town of Abyei to the ground in June 2008, putting the already-strained CPA at increased risk.

Prior to the conflict, Darfur, the western-most region of Sudan, was home to 6.5 million people – 4 million 'non-Arab' Africans and 2.5 million Arabs.
The non-Arab Africans are largely farmers who own livestock. The Arabs are largely nomadic herders.
Darfur means "land of the Fur". The Fur is the largest ethnic group in Darfur. The other two major non-Arab tribes are the Zaghawa and the Masalit.
Darfur, seen as peripheral by the rulers in Khartoum, has traditionally suffered neglect by the Sudanese Government; it has few roads, schools or health clinics.
Darfurians began to arm themselves in the 1990s – the non-Arab Africans split into three main factions – 2 wings of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement. The Arabs, with funding and support from the Sudanese military, formed the Janjaweed militias.

The current, bloody phase of the Darfur conflict began in 2003, when non-Arab rebels from the SLA and JEM rebel groups attacked government military posts in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The government responded with a scorched earth policy – they trained, armed and unleashed Janjaweed militias who, alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces, entered non-Arab villages and torched houses, fields, markets and schools, killed men, raped women and chased people out of the village into the inhospitable desert. This pattern of attack happened from 2003-2005.
The attacks, as described by witnesses, were extremely similar across time and geographic distances. Early in the morning, government aircraft flew overhead. This was followed by the entrance into the village of the Janjaweed on camel, horseback and in pickup trucks. The Janjaweed systematically killed, raped, pillaged and burned villages, then chased people out of the villages into the desert.
Violence continues, but whole scale attacks on villages have largely ended, mostly because there are few left to destroy. Most of the violence is still being perpetrated by the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Janjaweed militias, though Darfurian rebel groups have also been implicated in attacks and violence.

The Government of Sudan has actively obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance in Darfur, including delaying shipments of food and medicine, levying exorbitant fees, making it difficult for aid workers to obtain visas for Sudan and permission to get into Darfur, etc.
There are 2.5 million people displaced within Darfur itself (called IDPs, or 'internally displaced persons'), and 300,000 refugees (people who have crossed an international border) living in camps in Chad. There is little hope of them returning home for several years.
Darfur is the largest humanitarian assistance mission in the world. 14,000 aid workers (both international and Sudanese) care for these displaced persons at a cost of $1 billion a year. These aid workers are increasingly becoming targets of harassment and violence, causing many organizations to reduce their programming or to suspend operations altogether.
Aid workers in Chad have increasingly become the targets of violence; compounds are robbed and cars are hijacked. May 2008 was a sad milestone – the first international aid worker was killed during a carjacking.

In 2004, 150 troops from the African Union were deployed to Darfur. By 2007, that number increased to only 7,000; insufficient to protect civilians in an area the size of France.
In the face of continued violence in Darfur, the United Nations passed Security Council Resolution 1706 (August 31, 2006) to deploy 20,000 UN troops and police in Darfur. China, Russia and Qatar abstained from this vote. The Sudanese government obstructed the deployment of these troops for a year, refusing to allow any UN troops on the ground, or any non-African soldiers.
With no abatement in the violence, the Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1796 (July 30, 2007), which called for the deployment of a force of 20,000 soldiers and 6,000 police (called UNAMID).
As of the summer of 2008, only 9,000 of UNAMID's promised 20,000 troops had been deployed. They have little communications equipment and an unclear mandate. The Government of Sudan continues to obstruct UNAMID's deployment. Thus, the people of Darfur still have little protection.
A European Union force (EUFOR) of 3,200 was authorized in 2007 to protect the refugee camps and humanitarian workers in Chad. EUFOR works in conjunction with the civilian UN mission in the region (known as MINURCAT). As of the summer of 2008, 2,700 EUFOR troops were deployed.

Rape has been all-too-prevalent in Darfur. A PHR study found that 40% of the women interviewed had been raped or had observed rape when their villages were attacked. Because of extremely high levels of proof required - 4 male or 8 female witnesses - rape is nearly impossible to prosecute in Sudan.
So far there have been few successful prosecutions for rape in Darfur. Oftentimes, rape victims who come forward are then charged with adultery.

In 2005, President Bush declared that genocide was occurring in Darfur. Colin Powell had declared genocide in Darfur in June of the previous year.
A peace agreement - the "Darfur Peace Agreement" (DPA) was signed on May 6, 2006 by the Government of Sudan and only one of the major rebel groups – the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement of Minni Minnawi. However, few Darfurians accepted the agreement and it was quickly and regularly violated after it was signed, and has not brought peace to the troubled region.
A peace process – and a long-lasting political solution – to the conflict in Darfur are desperately needed. Peace negotiations have been stalled and the various Darfurian rebel groups have splintered into increasingly smaller groups. There is little international leadership pushing the various factions to come to the negotiating table.

The worldwide movement to stop the violence in Darfur is historic; it marks the first attempt to stop an ongoing genocide.
By holding rallies, writing to their elected officials and demanding media coverage of the situation, activists from around the world have kept the world's attention focused on the plight of the people of Darfur.