The Darfur conflict : beyond ethnic hatred explanations

[摘要] Sudan is a country that has been affected by a history of multiple destructive civilwars. Conflicts that, in a global perspective, have proven to be as devastating asinterstate wars, or on occasion even more destructive, in terms of the numbers ofcasualties, 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 illustratesone of the direst scenarios. In around five years of warfare, more than 200,000 peoplehave died in the conflict, and around two million Darfurians were displaced, creatingwhat the UN calls the 'world's worst humanitarian crisis. The civil war was initiatedby the attacks of two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and theJustice and Equality Movement, against government installations. Althoughpresenting insurgency characteristics, the civil war in Darfur has been commonlylabelled as a 'tribal conflict of 'Africans versus 'Arabs. An explanation that seemsto fail to clarify the complex circumstances belying the situation. As seen in thisstudy, although identity factors played their role as a cause of the conflict, the 'ethnichatred' justification of war doesn't seem to be sufficient to explain the presentsituation. Darfur appears to be a clear example that there is no single factor that canexplain such a war.In the case of Darfur, various factors seem to have interplayed in creating thenecessary conditions for the eruption of violence. This study focused on two of thesefactors – the environmental hazards that have been affecting the region, and thegovernment's use of the Janjaweed militia in its counterinsurgency movement. Both,and in different ways, seem to have contributed to dividing the Darfurian societybetween two poles, thus worsening the circumstances in the region and helpinggenerate the high levels of violence that characterise the Darfur conflict.Most important, in analysing the conflict of Darfur with a point of view that goesbeyond the 'ethnic hatred explanation, it seems possible to identify issues, such asland ownership, that are in vital need of being addressed in order to achieve peace in4the region. As seen in this thesis, it seems that it is only through a broadunderstanding of the complex causes of the conflict that peace negotiations mighthave any hope of success. While those continue to be ignored, any peace agreementsor prospects of finding a solution to the conflict will be unrealistic.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University