The Darfur conflict : beyond ethnic hatred explanations
Date
2008-03
Authors
Gross de Almeida, Daniela
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
Sudan is a country that has been affected by a history of multiple destructive civil
wars. Conflicts that, in a global perspective, have proven to be as devastating as
interstate wars, or on occasion even more destructive, in terms of the numbers of
casualties, refugee figures and the effects on a country’s society.
The conflict in Darfur, in the western region of Sudan, is a civil war that illustrates
one of the direst scenarios. In around five years of warfare, more than 200,000 people
have died in the conflict, and around two million Darfurians were displaced, creating
what the UN calls the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” The civil war was initiated
by the attacks of two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the
Justice and Equality Movement, against government installations. Although
presenting insurgency characteristics, the civil war in Darfur has been commonly
labelled as a “tribal” conflict of “Africans” versus “Arabs”. An explanation that seems
to fail to clarify the complex circumstances belying the situation. As seen in this
study, although identity factors played their role as a cause of the conflict, the ‘ethnic
hatred’ justification of war doesn’t seem to be sufficient to explain the present
situation. Darfur appears to be a clear example that there is no single factor that can
explain such a war.
In the case of Darfur, various factors seem to have interplayed in creating the
necessary conditions for the eruption of violence. This study focused on two of these
factors – the environmental hazards that have been affecting the region, and the
government’s use of the Janjaweed militia in its counterinsurgency movement. Both,
and in different ways, seem to have contributed to dividing the Darfurian society
between two poles, thus worsening the circumstances in the region and helping
generate the high levels of violence that characterise the Darfur conflict.
Most important, in analysing the conflict of Darfur with a point of view that goes
beyond the “ethnic hatred” explanation, it seems possible to identify issues, such as
land ownership, that are in vital need of being addressed in order to achieve peace in
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the region. As seen in this thesis, it seems that it is only through a broad
understanding of the complex causes of the conflict that peace negotiations might
have any hope of success. While those continue to be ignored, any peace agreements
or prospects of finding a solution to the conflict will be unrealistic.
Description
Thesis (MA (Political Science. International Studies))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
Keywords
Sudan -- History -- Civil war 1983-2005, Forced migration -- Sudan, Indigenous peoples -- Sudan -- Darfu -- Crimes against, Theses -- Political science, Dissertations -- Political science