Darfur Genocide

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A Darfur village that has been sacked by the Janjaweed.

“	The report demonstrates beyond all doubt that the last two years have been little short of hell on earth for our fellow human beings in Darfur.	„
	~ Then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, referring to a 2005 report detailing the Darfur Genocide.

The Darfur Genocide is the systematic killing and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Darfuri people which has occurred during the ongoing conflict in Western Sudan. It has become known as the first genocide of the 21st century. 

The genocide has been principally carried out by the Janjaweed ("Devils on Horseback"), a militia that is comprised of various Sudanese Arab tribes, the core of whom are from the Abbala (camel herder) background with significant recruitment from the Baggara (cattle herder) people. They are trained, funded and supplied by the Sudanese government.

The genocide, which is being carried out against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes, has led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to indict several people (most notably former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who was, at the time, the first sitting head of state to be indicted by a national tribunal) for crimes against humanity, rape, forced transfer and torture. According to Eric Reeves, more than one million children have been "killed, raped, wounded, displaced, traumatized, or endured the loss of parents and families".

The crisis and ongoing conflict in Sudan's Western Darfur Region have developed from several separate events. The first is a civil war that occurred between the Khartoum national governments and two rebel groups in Darfur: the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army. The rebel groups were initially formed in February 2003 due to Darfur's "political and economic marginalization by Khartoum". In April 2003, when the rebel groups attacked the military airfield and kidnapped an air force general, the government launched a counterattack. It led to a response from the Khartoum government where they armed militia forces to eliminate the rebellion. This resulted in mass violence against the citizens in Darfur.

A second factor is a civil war that has occurred between the Christians, the animist Black southerners, and the Arab dominated government since Sudan's independence from the United Kingdom in 1956. The violence that took place for about 11 years left more than a million people displaced by the hostilities: fleeing to other places around Sudan or across the border to Chad.

The ethnic conflict in Darfur has been persistent, with Arab racism at its roots. Darfur is home to six million people and several dozen tribes. Darfur is split into two: "those who claim Black 'African' descent and primarily practice sedentary agriculture, and those who claim 'Arab' descent and are mostly semi nomadic livestock herders".

In 2004, then United States Secretary of State Colin Powell told the state committee on foreign affairs that a genocide had been carried out in Darfur, that the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed were responsible, and that the genocide may still be ongoing. Powell stated that having reviewed the evidence which had been compiled by the State Department and having compared it to information which was freely available throughout the international community he came to the conclusion that genocide had been carried out in Darfur."

In 2013 the United Nations (UN) estimated that up to 300,000 people had been killed during the genocide, in response the Sudanese government claimed that the number of deaths was "grossly inflated". By 2015, it was estimated that the death toll stood between 100,000 and 400,000.

The citizens in Darfur who have fled the genocide in Sudan - and continue to flee today - settle in one of the 13 refugee camps in Eastern Chad. About 360,000 Darfuri's suffer in those camps: "The 10+ years they have lived in the camps have been marked by tight resources, threats from inside and outside the camps, and more, but life is getting even harder for the refugees."

UNHCR proposed to the UN Secretary-General to "take responsibility for the protection and voluntary return of IDPs to their villages of origin in West Darfur in partnership with other agencies…". The UN approved of their proposal to govern and create a protective environment in camps, host communities and settlements for the displaced people to a within Darfur.

There have been funding shortfalls which impacted the increase in the refugees and internally displaced persons. The environment and lack of exceptional living conditions is not able to accommodate the refugee community.

As of 2018, a group of refugees that have been in Chad since 2003–2004 are returning to North Darfur. They are the first of thousands who are expected to return voluntarily to Darfur in the coming months. The refugees are provided with transport and packages which include three months of food rations, provided by the World Food Programme (WFP). As the peace and security situation is maintained in Darfur, more refugees will want to return to Sudan.

The violence continued into 2016 where the government allegedly used chemical weapons against the local population in Darfur. This led to millions being displaced due to the hostile environment. Over 3 million lives are heavily impacted by the conflict.