Darfur

I

Introduction

Darfur, westernmost region in the Republic of Sudan, covering an area about the size of France. The landscape of Darfur spans sandy desert, grassy savanna, and lofty mountains. The region is home to an ethnic mosaic of people, most of whom are Muslim. The Fur people make up the largest non-Arab group in the region. In Arabic, Darfur means “Land of the Fur.”

Darfur became mired in violence in 2003, when the government of Sudan launched a brutal crackdown on a rebellion in the region. The conflict continued in 2007 despite international mediation efforts. More than 200,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the violence or from starvation and disease. Refugee camps have swelled with more than 2 million displaced people, creating a humanitarian emergency.

II

The Land and People of Darfur

Darfur covers an area of nearly 500,000 sq km (nearly 200,000 sq mi). It shares its western border with Libya, Chad, and the Central African Republic. From north to south, Darfur straddles the edge of the Sahara desert, reaches across the semiarid Sahel and savanna, and borders forests of Africa’s wet tropical region. In central Darfur the Jebel Marra massif dominates the landscape, rising more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) at its highest peak. The massif receives significantly more rain than other areas of Darfur, and seasonal streams called wadis flow from its heights. Jebel Marra marks the watershed between the Nile Basin (also known as the Sudan Basin) to the east and the Chad Basin to the west.

Depending on definitions, there are between 30 and 90 ethnic groups or tribes in Darfur. Arabs of the Juhayna lineage comprise 40 percent of the population, and the majority of them live in southern Darfur. The main Arab tribes are the Rizeigat, Beni Halba, Habbaniya, Ta’aisha, and Zayadiya. Arab immigration occurred between the 14th and 17th centuries. The largest non-Arab groups are the Fur (about 25 percent of the population), the Masalit (about 12 percent), and the Zaghawa (about 9 percent). These groups have lived in Darfur since ancient times. The region also includes a sizeable population of West African origin, mostly Hausa speaking. Centuries of intermarriage between Arabs and non-Arabs has blurred physical distinctions among the people in Darfur. Nearly all Darfurians are Muslims, and most belong to the Tijaniyya (Tijaniyah) Sufi order. See also Islam; Sufism.

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Traditionally, most Darfurians practice mixed livelihoods, including farming and raising livestock. The staple crop is pearl millet (also known as bulrush millet), a type of cereal grass. It is grown during the rainy season from June to September, supplemented by irrigated farming along seasonal rivers and on the slopes of Jebel Marra. Farmers also tend cattle, sheep, and goats. Pastoralists herd camels in the north and cattle in the south, migrating seasonally with their herds. Most non-Arabs are farmers, and many Arabs are pastoralists.

III

History of Darfur

Both legend and archeological record indicate that states have existed in Darfur from ancient times. From the 11th to 14th centuries it was part of a Zaghawa empire, and Jebel Marra was the locus for kingdoms ruled by the Daju and Tunjur peoples. In the early 17th century, the sultanate of Darfur emerged among the Keira lineage of the Fur-speaking people. Islam was promoted as the official religion. By the late 18th century Darfur had grown into a multiethnic empire with a complex administration. Its armies reached as far east as the Nile, and it dominated the trans-Saharan trade with Egypt.

In 1874 a Turko-Egyptian mercenary army conquered the Darfur sultanate. By 1885, however, a Sudanese rebellion led by Muhammad Ahmad, a religious leader known as the Mahdi, expelled the Egyptians from Sudan and proclaimed the Mahdist state. Darfurians figured prominently in the Mahdist revolt. A Darfurian Arab, Abdullah al-Taashi, succeeded the Mahdi as the caliph (ruler) of Sudan from 1885 to 1898. Those years witnessed massive disruption, bloodshed, and famine in Darfur.

At this time, European countries were engaged in the so-called Scramble for Africa, building colonial empires on the continent through military conquest. Britain, which had occupied Egypt, became focused on defeating the Mahdist state to expand its colonial possessions. In 1898 British forces led by General Horatio H. Kitchener decisively defeated the Mahdists in the Battle of Omdurman, near Khartoum. Uninterested in Darfur, the British initially recognized the Darfur sultanate under Ali Dinar Zakariyya, but subsequently deposed him in 1916. Darfur was officially incorporated into Sudan, which was under the joint sovereignty of Britain and Egypt.

Darfur was a backwater of colonial Sudan, as it was geographically isolated from the capital of Khartoum. The British ruled Sudan indirectly through a “native administration” system, involving tribal leaders in local governance. Under this system Darfur was neglected and had the poorest health care, schools, and infrastructure of any part of Sudan. This situation continued after Sudan gained independence in 1956, despite the fact that Darfur provided about 20 percent of Sudan’s electorate. Attempts to build a unified Darfurian political platform were repeatedly thwarted by ethnic and political divisions among Darfurian leaders. Distinct Arab and non-Arab (“African”) blocs emerged in the 1980s.

A

Emergence of the Janjaweed

A civil war in neighboring Chad spilled over into Darfur in the 1980s. A Chadian warlord militia sponsored by Libya retreated into Darfur at the end of the decade, after the Chadians drove Libyan forces out of Chad. This Chadian militia formed an alliance with Darfurian Arabs who were impoverished by a severe drought. A shortage of water and arable land had led to increasing conflict between the nomadic Arabs, who used the land for grazing livestock, and the settled non-Arabs, who used it primarily for farming. The well-armed Arab alliance, which became known as Janjaweed (or Jingaweit), launched attacks and raids on farming communities. Those communities developed militias of their own in response.

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