How did the conflict start?
The conflict began in the arid
and impoverished region early in 2003 after a
rebel group began attacking government targets,
claiming that the region was being neglected by
Khartoum.
The rebels say the government is
oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.
There has been tension in Darfur,
which means land of the Fur, for many years over
land and grazing rights between the mostly
nomadic Arabs and farmers from the Fur,
Massaleet and Zagawa communities.
There are two main rebel groups,
the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice
and Equality Movement (Jem), which have been
linked to senior Sudanese opposition politician
Hassan al-Turabi.
What is the government doing?
It admits mobilizing "self-defense
militias" following rebel attacks but denies any
links to the Janjaweed, accused of trying to rid
his of territory of black
Africans.
Refugees from Darfur say that following air
raids by government aircraft, the Janjaweed ride
into villages on horses and camels, slaughtering
men, raping women and stealing whatever they can
find.
Many women report being abducted by the
Janjaweed and held as sex slaves for more than a
week before being released. Human rights groups, the US Congress and US
Secretary of State Colin Powell say that
genocide is taking place - though a UN team sent
to Sudan to find out instead said that war
crimes had been committed, but there was no
intent to commit genocide.
Sudan's government denies being in control of
the Janjaweed and President Omar al-Bashir has
called them "thieves and gangsters".
After strong international pressure and the
threat of sanctions, the government promised to
disarm the Janjaweed. But there is little
evidence of this so far.
Thousands of extra policemen have been
deployed but the refugees have little faith in
the Sudanese security forces.
What has happened to the civilians?
More than two million people have left their
homes and many thousands have been killed. Most have fled their destroyed villages for
camps in Darfur's main towns but there is not
enough food, water or medicine. The Janjaweed patrol outside the camps, and Darfurians say the men are killed and the women
raped if they venture too far in search of
firewood or water. Over the next 18 months, up to 4 million
people may be affected by food shortages, the UN
warns.
Attempts by security forces to persuade the
refugees to leave the camps and return home have
led to violence and brought condemnation from
the international community. Meanwhile, a drought and a big reduction in
the number of active farmers means a heavy
dependence on food aid during the next few
months.
As many as 200,000 have also sought safety in
neighbouring Chad, but many are camped along a
600km stretch of the border and remain
vulnerable to attacks from Sudan. Chad is worried that the conflict could spill
over the border. Its eastern areas have a similar ethnic
make-up to Darfur.
Lots of aid agencies are working in Darfur
but they are unable to get access to vast areas. They accuse the government of blocking their
access to Darfur by demanding visas and using
other bureaucratic obstacles. Sudan says these have been removed.
Is anyone trying to stop the fighting?
The government and the two rebel groups
signed a ceasefire last April but this has not
held. Subsequent African Union brokered peace talks
in Nigeria have failed to make much progress
though agreement has been reached on banning
military flights in Darfur and on humanitarian
aid. Some 3,000 African Union troops are being
slowly deployed in Darfur on a very limited
mandate. Khartoum is resisting allowing them to
beef up their powers to disarm combatants.
The United Nations has been criticized for
doing too little, too late - but some
significant diplomatic progress is now being
made. The Security Council agreed to
impose travel bans and an asset freeze on those
who commit atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.
A dossier of evidence compiled by a UN
commission has also been passed to the ICC in
The Hague along with the names of top war crimes
suspects. The Sudan government has hinted that it may
let Darfur run its own affairs more if this
would help solve the crisis. It has agreed to let southern Sudan have its
own government as part of a deal to end 20 years
of conflict in that region.
But so far the crisis shows no signs of
abating.
