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Darfur Q&A
By Times Staff
Published May 10, 2006
What's the deal with Darfur? Darfur is a region about the size of Texas, with a population of 6-million, in western Sudan. It is the site of what the United Nations has called the world's worst refugee crisis and what the Bush administration calls genocide. Decades of low-level tribal clashes over land and water erupted into large-scale violence in February 2003 when groups representing ethnic African Muslims took up arms, accusing the nation's Arab-dominated central government of neglect and marginalization. The government is accused of unleashing local Arab tribal militias and others, known as the Janjaweed,to murder and rape civilians and lay waste to villages. Worst refugee crisis? How many people is that? More than 180,000 people have been killed and 2-million driven from their homes, including 200,000 who have fled to neighboring Chad. A British parliamentary committee last year estimated the death toll is probably around 300,000. But aid groups are helping, right? Aid agencies have found themselves increasingly hemmed in by attacks from both rebel groups and militias. The crisis in Darfur has made more than 3.8-million people in the area in need of food aid, which has also been curtailed by a lack of funds. The United States provides 85 percent of the food aid. For fiscal year 2006 it has so far pledged or spent $241-million in Darfur and eastern Chad, more than $184-million of it humanitarian aid. On Monday, President Bush pledged more food aid. If it started in 2003, why am I hearing about it now? The last year has seen a steady deterioration with more civilians attacked, rebel movements splintering and the arrival of armed groups from Chad, which shares similar ethnic groups near the border. Darfur has been a staging ground for Chadian rebels, who have risen up against their government, and Sudan accuses Chad of supporting Darfur rebels. And last month, Osama bin Laden urged militants to go to Sudan to fight any U.N. peacekeeping force. Is religion involved? Most of the people in Darfur are Muslim, as are the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed. Didn't I hear about peace talks? How are they going? Talks have been taking place in Abuja, Nigeria, under the auspices of the African Union. On Friday the largest faction of the Sudan Liberation Army and the government signed a peace agreement. Mediators are still trying to persuade another branch of the SLA, and the smaller Justice and Equality Movement to join. What are the main provisions of the peace treaty? A cease-fire, disarmament of militias linked to the government and accused of some of the war's worst atrocities, integration of thousands of rebel fighters into Sudan's armed forces, protection for civilians, establishment of a reconstruction and development fund and provisions to compensate war victims. Political provisions include guarantees that rebel factions will have representation in Darfur's three state legislatures, control of a regional authority, and a senior advisory position in the central government (the rebels did not get the national vice presidency they had sought). Sources: United Nations, BBC News, Council on Foreign Relations, Times wires
[Last modified May 10, 2006, 06:07:56]
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