Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.19
Bredjing, Chad.
Refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan bake bread near their tent in
Chad's largest refugee camp.
© Scott Nelson/Getty Images.
western Sudan. The Arab Muslim government (located in
the north) began a campaign of genocide early in this cen-
tury against the non-Arab Muslims in Darfur. The govern-
ment of Sudan funds the militia known as the Janjaweed.
The Janjaweed is waging a genocide campaign against the
non-Arab, Muslim, darker-skinned Africans in Darfur—a
campaign that includes killing over 400,000, raping
women and girls, taking lands and homes from Africans,
and displacing 2.5 million people (Fig. 3.19).
In 2004, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
labeled the Janjaweed's actions in Darfur
genocide
. The
1948 Convention on Genocide defi nes genocide as “acts
committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.” The inter-
national community is trying to negotiate an end to the
government-backed campaign in Darfur. The United
Nations Security Council met in Kenya in 2004 trying
to fi nd a solution and eventually passed a resolution con-
demning the Sudanese government and threatening puni-
tive damages against the government for their actions in
Darfur. Two members of the Security Council, China and
Pakistan, abstained from the vote because each of these
countries relies on oil imports from Sudan.
In 2005, northern and southern Sudan signed the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which called for the
south to hold a referendum, a vote of all the people, on
whether to break off from the north and form a new coun-
try. Confl ict continued in Darfur. Under international
pressure in 2008, China began to pressure the Sudanese
government to end the violence in Darfur, but the Chinese
government also refuses to recognize the Janjaweed's rela-
tionship with the Sudanese government.
In 2011, South Sudan voted in a referendum to
secede from Sudan. In July 2011 the north and south
formally separated. Ironically, the new border, which
was created as a solution to a civil war and refugee crisis
has already generated new refugee fl ows in the region.
The long-lasting refugee and IDP crisis in Sudan help
us understand the complexity of political confl ict and
migration fl ows in Subsaharan Africa. The Muslim
