Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Democracy
Sudan: The Crisis in Darfur
Questions for Today
•	Are the Darfur a genuine ethnicity?
•	Why do they think they are?
•	What is the origin of the issues?
•	Do they have a moral right for separation?
•	What is the solution?
Sudan: Population
•	Population:
–	Number	36,992,490
–	Growth rate in 2006:  	2.08%
–	IMR: 	91.78 per 1000
–	Life expectancy:	49.1
–	Fertility rate:	4.69
•	Ethnicities:
–	Black	52%
–	Arab	39%
•	Religions:
–	Muslim, Sunni	70%
–	Christian	5%
–	Indigenous	25%
Sudan: Government
•	State name:
–	Republic of the Sudan
•	Government:
–	Presidential
–	President Bashir (86.5%)
–	Legislative branch appointed
–	Judicial branch appointed
Sudan: Economy
•	GDP:
–	$97.19 billion
•	GDP per capita:
–	$2,400
•	Labor force:
–	Agriculture	80%
–	Unemployment rate:	20%
–	Poverty rate:	40%
•	Petroleum:
–	Exports:	280,000 bbl/day
–	Imports:	8,000 bbl/day
–	Reserves:	1.6 billion bbl
Sudan: Geography
•	Climate:
–	tropical in south; arid desert in north; rainy season varies by region (April to November)
•	Terrain:
–	generally flat, featureless plain; mountains in far south, northeast and west; desert dominates the north
•	Coastline:
–	Red Sea coastline 853km of 8540km total	10%
Sudan: A History
•	Why are we doing history???
•	What does it matter?
–	Darfur was independent sultanate for hundreds of years until conquered by Egypt in 1821
–	It was included in British-ruled Sudan in 1916 
–	Became part of the Republic of Sudan in 1956 when Sudan gained its independence from Britain
•	Then, in 1989:
–	A new government in Khartoum promised to appease the mostly Christian south by discussing their demands for greater autonomy
–	Why would they want to be autonomous?
•	But,
–	General al-Bashir seized power in a coup and joined forces with the National Islamic Front
–	it began persecuting the Christians of the south
–	
•	However:
–	Pressure (both diplomatic and economic) mounted against the regime for its treatment of the Christians
–	The Bashir regime agreed to make peace with the southerners
•	Currently, 
–	There exists a power-sharing agreement, but the south is protected, so there is no need for it
–	The south is all but independent of Khartoum
•	Thus,
–	The Christians in the south revolted and won autonomy
•	Wait…
–	I guess this is not about the south
–	It is about the Fur in the west of Sudan
–	
Darfur: Geography
•	Shamal Darfur (North)
–	Barren and hot and dry
•	Janub Darfur (South)
–	Rainfall of about 25in
–	Green and verdant in many areas
•	Underground water deposits
–	Size: 	19,000 mi2
Darfur: History
•	Fur kingdoms at the edge of history
–	No self-rule since
•	Fought the Egyptian rulers
•	Fought the British
•	Fought the Fur who fought the Egyptians and British
•	Under British rule, money went to Khartoum and not to the periphery
•	Continued after independence
•	Darfur suffered as it was at the corner of Sudan, Chad, and Libya
–	Proxy wars fought constantly
–	Separated the Fur into Arab descent and Black descent
–	Khartoum co-opted the Arab Fur against the Black Fur
•	But, the trigger seemed to be
–	The drought of the mid-1990s
–	Forced mass migrations
–	Destroyed traditional structures
–	Edmund Burke is right?
Darfur: History
•	The Darfur War began in 2003
–	Started with rebel attacks against  government installations
•	The government responds with attacks against the rebels and their tribes
–	The Janjaweed enter the story here
–	They are merely a militia
–	Yet, they have government weapons
–	Well, so do the rebels
–	Are the Janjaweed controlled by Khartoum?
Darfur: The AU
•	The African Union sent 7,000 peacekeeping troops after the 2006 agreement
–	The accord calls for:
–	The disarmament of the Janjaweed militia
–	The disbanding of the rebel forces and their incorporation into the regular army
•	The AU peacekeeping force began to go bankrupt
–	The AU requested the UN to replace them
–	The UN agreed
Darfur: The UN
•	However, Bashir refused to allow white troops in Sudan
–	Memories of colonialism?
•	A hybrid UN/AU force was proposed
–	UNAMID will replace AMIS at the end of this year
–	Mandate extends to 2008
–	Peace at last!
Peace at Last?
•	The peace agreement (2006) has not helped the people
–	The security, human rights and humanitarian situation in Darfur  continued to deteriorate 
–	Aid agencies have been forced out by armed attacks
Solution?
•	A two-point game plan for dealing with the situation in Darfur as it exists today
–	Targeted sanctions
–	Against the rulers
–	Against the businesses owned by the rulers
–	Against the petroleum industry
–	Implement a No-Fly Zone in Darfur
–	Back it up with troops on the ground (non-consensual deployment)
•	Will this work?
War Crimes
•	What about using the ICC to try war crminals in this war?
Genocide?
•	The UN numbers:
–	Estimate of over 400,000 people dead and 2 million more displaced
•	This appears to be a genuine case of genocide
–	Congress said it, so it must be true
•	What does genocide mean?
Genocide
•	The UN Definition
–	Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and/or] Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Genocide?
•	Is Darfur a case of genocide or just a lot of dead people?