Our World

Darfur Conflict

Today peace activists around the world gathered to remind everyone of the forgotten war in Darfur, a western region of Sudan. The Darfur conflict consists of the Janjaweed, an Arabic militia group recruited from local Baggara tribes, and the non-Baggara people. The conflict began after a long famine that took place in the region. In early 2003, the a group of rebels accused the government of oppressing the non-Arabic people in favor of the Arabic population. Soon to follow, raids against police stations and army outposts. Within under a year, the rebels moved on to winning 34 of the 38 engagements with the government’s armed forces. In response to this, the government changes their tactics, and heavily relied on the Janjaweed forces. Within a short time, the Janjaweed took control of the conflict, due to better equipment and weapons, which were mainly supplied by the Sudanese government. However, to this day the government publicly denies it’s support to the Janjaweed.

Since the start of the Darfur conflict, an estimated 200,000 people or more have been killed, and over 2 million people left homeless. Yet the Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir claims under no circumstances will he allow the deployment of U.N. troops into the area. He is also being heavily pressured into accepting the U.N. resolution of over 200,000 peacekeepers into Darfur.

Considering our class just discussed centrifugal forces and what not, I just thought I would share this with you. Because this was the first time I heard about this conflict, what about you?

Information about the conflict- CNN Story and Darfur Conflict

posted by Anonymous @ 9/17/2006 06:51:00 PM