Gregory Stanton of Genocide Watch draws attention to the Darfur region of Sudan where Arab militias have been driving people from their homes in what he calls the worst case of ethnic cleansing since Kosovo. The UN announced a mission to investigate the situation, although the four member team is still waiting for permission to enter Sudan from neighboring Chad. These articles cast the conflict as being between Arabs and non-Arabs. But the conflict differs from the situation in the south of Sudan in that all involved are Muslim. Even between Arabs and non-Arabs it appears the distinctions are not as obvious as one might think:
Darfur was an independent sultanate until 1917, when it was the last region to be incorporated into the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. The Arabic word Dar roughly means homeland, and its population of nearly four million is divided into several Dars; not only of the Fur people, as its name suggests, but also of several other communities, determined by livelihood as much as ethnicity. These ecological and social distinctions are more meaningful than the administrative divisions imposed by government. Ethnicity is not in itself clear-cut, given the long history of racial mixing between indigenous "non-Arab" peoples and the "Arabs", who are now distinguished by cultural-linguistic attachment rather than race.
As usual, the Head Heeb has some good links (including the article quoted above) and commentary: Coup or Purge? and Split Decision. The International Crisis Group also has some indepth articles about Sudan including Darfur Rising: Sudan's New Crisis which outlines some of the historical grievances that have plagued the region.
(update: There's a op-ed / photo essay about Sudanese refugees in Chad at the NYTimes site. Requires Flash.)
Posted by alokem at April 6, 2004 01:00 PM