FAMINE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

INFO ON SUDAN

• Sudan was the largest country in Africa until 2011
• Situated in Nothern Africa where it borders the Red Sea
• Landscape:desert in the North,Forests in the South,Grassy plains in centre
• The River Nile provides water to east but many areas receive no rainfall
• Contains two different groups of people Arabs (North) and Africans (South)

INFO ON DARFUR

• Darfur is a region in western sudan
• Darfur covers an area of 493,180 square kilometers ( Spain's size )
• There are many tribes in Darfur ( Arab and non arab roots )
• Non-Arab tribes called "Furis" ( Masaliets , Zaghawa and Fur tribes )
• Arab tribes ( Habniya , Rizigat and Misiriya tribes )

REGION OF DARFUR

• The region of Darfur depends on rainfall which occurs in Autumn
• The Arab tribes mainly work in cattle ( camels , cows and goats )
• The non Arab tribes mainly work on farming ( They depend on rainfall)
• The Arab tribes move from one place to another searching for resources for their cattle
• The non arabs stay in their areas guarding their lands.

What caused the Darfur conflict ?
As the nomads moved between the northern and the southern part of the region, specific arrangements for animal routes were made by their leaders and those of the farming communities, and these arrangements were sanctioned by the government.The system worked for decades until the drought of the 1980s. As the climate changed, the expected dates of crop harvest became unpredictable, and many farmers began to switch to animal husbandry and needed grazing land.At the same time, the pastoralists were also feeling the effects of the drought as grazing land in northern Darfur shrank considerably. Faced with this situation, camel nomads insisted on maintaining the traditional arrangements, which became a source of major clashes.

The War of Darfur
A low-level conflict continued for the next fifteen years, with the government co-opting and arming Arab Janjaweed militias against its enemies. The fighting reached a peak in 2003 with the beginning of the Darfur conflict, in which the resistance coalesced into a roughly cohesive rebel movement

The U.N. And the Refugees
The conflict soon came to be regarded by human rights groups and the UN as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world. The insurgency ( rebellion ) and counter-insurgency have led to 480,000 deaths. Over 2.8 million people have been displaced since 2003. Many of these refugees have gone into camps where emergency aid has created conditions that, although extremely basic, are better than in the villages, which offer no protection against the various militias that operate in the region.

THE PEACE AGREEMENTS
There were two peace agreements regarding the Darfur conflict

THE 2006 AGREEMENT

• Also known as the "Abuja" treatment
• was signed on May 5, 2006 by the government of Sudan
• Was also signed by the Sudanese Liberation Movement
• However, the agreement was rejected by two other groups.
• The JEM & the rivals of the SLA

The 2011 Darfur Peace Agreement

• Known as the Doha agreement
• Signed on July 2011 by the GOV and SLA in the Sheraton Hotel
• This agreement established a compensation fund for victims
• The agreement also provided for power sharing at the national level
• Until this very day the agreement is still being processed