Darfur Project (Essay Sample)

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Darfur project.
Sudan is the biggest country in Africa. It has experienced internal civil wars over the past 3 decades. To many people have died in southern Sudan and many others displaced from their native homes and thus forced to live in camps just outside Darfur’s main towns and the neighborhood areas for instance Chad. The war began when the natives tried to challenge the National Congress Party (NCP) government in Darfur back in February 2003(Flint and de Waal, 2008). The government in turn unleashed the Janjaweed militia to stop the violence of which instead resulted to many crimes against humanity in Darfur for instance killing men, raping the women and burning the whole village.
Sudan’s capital, Khartoum is located on the river Nile between its two tributaries where they generally split. The geographical location of this city reflects the natural politics as opposed to the neglect of its periphery –Darfur. This has included medical facilities, meager education and infrastructure as well as its ignorance of famine situations such as in 1984. These neglects in one way or another resulted to the resistance of the government by the rebel movement. The ruling elites in this case also played an important role in the intractable conflicts. The failure of any one or several of them to take control over the state led to the instability of the country. It is observed that the main cause of brutality of the war is the inability of the government to initiate an effective control over the violence. There can be identified five competing elites all through the 90 years (Peter Woodward, 1990) before Bashir’s control. The members of these elites seemed to focus on their personal needs taking control over the natives. The Islamic government and the traditional Arab militia are accused of using the scorched earth policy in the western part of Sudan.
Darfur comprises of two communities, the African farmers and the Arab nomads. The population in Darfur is dominated by the Muslim consisting of many tribal and ethnic groups (40 to 90) speaking many languages which is identified as either non-Arab Sudanese or Arab. Desertification has engulfed most of the Darfur locations. The Arabs move North-South of the country on the circumstances of various seasonal changes. Climate change is a constituting and threat multiplier in such zones ( article in time magazine, May 2007).it is evident the there was increased competition for various natural resources, grazing rights and land disputes (Tubiana, 2007) is also a contributing factor for crisis. This has continually led to the disputes noted. There has been the implementation of traditional means conflict resolution in the past which proved to be successful. Since back in 1980s, government has enacted various policies in bid to enhance polarization within the ethnic groups and non-Arab Darfurians has continually led to violence and many unresolved hostilities.
It is noted that back in 1970’s, the Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi had some notable interests in Sudan. He tried to influence the Arabs in occupying the desert. He felt Sudan was on his side and hence continued to plant seeds of Arab supremacism in Darfur and later provided arms. The government of Sudan seemed to appreciate these monetary and military gifts from Gadaffi but not with the intention of physical control over the Muslims and Arabs.
Since early 2003, there was observed incidences of rooting and attack in Darfur. This resulted to displacements of the natives to refugee camps. During the February 2004, the UN had received reports on major killings on the civilians which were believed to have been committed by the Janjaweed militia. The communities who were mostly affected include the Zaghawa, Fur and Masaalit. These communities were believed to be`` Africans" by the Arabs.
On 27 February 2004, the humanitarian staff moving through Tawila (a town) 62 km west of El Fashir, discovered that the Janjaweed militia had already taken up a village by fire. The militia destroyed the whole village through their looting and burning.17 people were killed in that town and 68 more in the outcasts of the town. The market and all the houses, the health center had been burnt down to ashes. More than 100 women were raped where six of them were raped in front of their fathers who were the killed. About 200 children and 150 women had been taken away to a disclosed location and conclusively, in the Tawilla administrative Unit, more than 200 people had been killed, more than 200 women raped and more than 30 villages burnt (UN reports).
On the same day, the Janjaweed militia had attacked a village in Gemeiza Korongo which is 19km north-west of Kass in the south of Darfur by looting the IDPs belongings. They caused damage to the individuals forcing them to disperse to other areas. A 13-yeay-old girl being interviewed, says she escaped to Kalma (another village) after her home was torched. She identified the attackers as Arabs riding on horses and accompanied by government planes. Her parents were killed but she and six sisters managed to escape. Livestock were...