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Leslie Avila

Ap Seminar P4

Ms. Kennedy

29 October 2019

Genocide in Darfur: Cultural and Social Aspects

Genocide in Darfur has caused multiple disruptions throughout the region. Over the past

15 years this ongoing noticed war, has had a whole structure breakdown. The economy has taken

a downfall and the government is not doing well either. This place has not been doing well at all,

affecting people in a negative way. Since being considered a humanitarian crisis in 2003 - 2004

by UN officials. The region is in need of help by a force that can help recreate a hopeful place for

the Darfuri. Introducing an organization, that could resolve parts of the problems in the region

could lead to a better future to await. Through cultural and social views, we see how the

genocide has been treating the people of the region while the war has been happening. Shining

light on missed events going around at times unseen. Changing this whole situation bring about a

solution to the clash against the Fur and other groups as the, Zaghawa, and the Masalit.

This region has been suffering for quite a long period of time and has found that the

intensity of the war has cooled down throughout the years, but the conflict has caused barriers

within the genders and create social inequality. Mimi Osei- Agyemang, a University graduate

with a degree in African studies and public health, in “Temperatures Rising” wrote, “Women in

Darfur experienced the brunt of brutality. Since 2003, tens of thousands of women have been

displaced, raped and killed,” This region's order has gone down and denoted women across it,

creating an unsafe place for them. The Darfuri themselves were in a bad position to begin with
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even, before the war Darfur was underdeveloped and marginalized. Being underdeveloped

created fewer opportunities for the women of Darfur as the social traditions hindered the

women’s ability to break their normal gender responsibilities. Stephen Faris told a story by Alex

De Waal, a program director at the Social Science Research Council, taking part in

anthropological fieldwork as a doctoral candidate. Alex De Waal was traveling through Darfur

when he noticed things that he’d never seen. “the armed militiamen raped women, burned

houses, and tortured and killed men of fighting age.” Dating back to 2003, Janjaweed fighter,

dressed military, upon camels and horses had laid waste to the land. The main cause for this was

believed to be racially motivated, though filtered can be brought to a dispute between nomadic

herders and settled farmers arguing over land. A Senior Disarmament, Demobilization, and

Reintegration Officer with the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), in

a Community Stabilization and Violence Reduction: Lessons from Darfur said, ”Darfur’s

economy has been unable to create sufficient opportunities for youth, creating a link between

social instability and high concentration of youth without productive employment.”(Elzarov).

Not only were these people impacted, but the culture was also negatively impacted.

Acultural stance of Darfur has been a conflict as well. The region, of course, being

diverse would have different stories to tell. “This conflict seems to have negatively impacted the

interpreting process and sometimes interpreters are accused of being unfair and dishonest when

interpreting between the two ethical unities,” (Ali, Alhassan & Burma). Though having been

united for a long time the unity of these people has dispersed. Creating division due to different

background stories, each being changed or twisted to manipulate. Though they always found a

way to resolve this sort of dilemma. “Like other sedentary groups in Darfur, age-old clashes with
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pastoralists over land and resources were once resolved by traditional methods of conflict

resolution.” (“A closer look: Sudan The Peoples of Darfur”) It was until later in the 1970s that

the assortment of offerings stopped working, due to severe drought and easy access to guns along

with the lack of political enforcement. Ahmad Sikainga, an associate professor of History and

African American and African Studies as well as Director of the African Studies Center at The

Ohio State University said, “the ongoing carnage is also a product of a long history of ethnic

marginalization and manipulation by Sudan's ruling elites.” (Sikainga) The different two rivaling

ethnicities, warring over a possible reasoning of a lousy political ruling. The start of it has been

thought out in many ways, cultural, racial, political, but it is narrowed down to the land as these

Darfuri.

For a large time, culture has been influenced by the racial and political identities of the

region. The duo Salih Booker, an Executive Director of The Centre on Housing Rights and

Evictions and Ann-Louise Colgan, an assistant director for policy analysis and communications

at Africa Action “As in the conflict between north and south, in Darfur ethnic and racial

identities have also been part of the conflict.” (Booker & Colgan) Even then the

underdevelopment has caused a huge gap between the people. Whether it is upon innocence or

not. This also includes gender, either gender is not given any sort of mercy by the people that kill

them. Reporter James Copnall wrote the article, “Darfur conflict: Sudan's bloody stalemate” in

which he wrote, “Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit villages were bombed and burnt, civilians were

killed, and women were raped.” (Copnall) The Darfuri have their stands and continue the war

without rest. It can be said that the killers could care less for what they do, children, women, or

men they are all the same. In an Article, “Genocide in Darfur: “Information and news” it was
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written, “these attacks would happen from the ground, the government would also attack

civilians from the sky with indiscriminate aerial bombings wreaking havoc on

villages.”(Genocide in Darfur: Information and News) The unstable grounds have not affected at

most the cultural bounds in Darfur, this is because the whole of the population are Muslims, but

the social status between everything plays its role.

The genocide, War of Darfur, has been going through its rough patch on both the people

,and the land they fight on. The deaths of many have destroyed the community that the region

had once had before and has now created a broken home for those that have not left. The region's

government has not sustained itself to recreate a home that the Fur would want to come back to.

By improving upon the organization founded by Khalil Ibrahim, Darfur could once again

become a home to a variety of people and be at peace. Improving upon this organization would

create a good environment and at the thought, perhaps find a settling agreement that would work

for both the people of Darfur and the Sudanese. The crisis can be turned over, to become this

area of hope, in the eyes of the people.

( 1107: Total Count)

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Works Cited

Ali, Holi, et al. “An Investigation into the Interpreters' Challenges in Conflict Zones: The Case

of Darfur Region in Sudan.” SSRN, 16 Sept. 2019,

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3447637. Accessed, 14 Oct. 2019.

“A Closer Look: Sudan The Peoples of Darfur.” Cultural Survival, 1 Sept. 2004,

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/closer-look-suda

n-peoples-darfur Accessed 4 Oct. 2019.

Booker, Salih, and Ann-Louise Colgan. “Genocide in Darfur.” The Nation, 29 June 2015,

https://www.thenation.com/article/genocide-darfur/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2019.

Copnall, James. “Darfur Conflict: Sudan's Bloody Stalemate.” BBC News, 29 Apr. 2013,

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22336600. Accessed 23 Sept. 2019.

Durbin, Ann Strimov. “Genocide in Darfur: Information and News.” Jewish World Watch,

https://www.jww.org/conflict-areas/sudan/darfur/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2019.

Elzarov, Zurab. “ International Journal of Security and Development.” Stability, Centre for

Security Governance, 23 Feb. 2015,

https://www.stabilityjournal.org/articles/10.5334/sta.ex/. Accessed 23 Sept. 2019

Faris, Stephan. “The Real Roots of Darfur.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 1 Apr.

2007,

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2007/04/the-real-roots-of-darfur/305701/.

Accessed 29 Sept. 2019.

Osei-Agyemang, Mimi. “Temperatures Rising” EbscoHost, Women & Environments

International Magazine, Spring/Summer2007 Issue 74/75, p25, 3p, Accessed 25 Sept.

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2019.

Sikainga, Ahmad. “Understanding the Darfur Conflict.” Origins, Feb. 2009,

origins.osu.edu/article/worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-understanding-darfur-conflict.

Accessed 14 Oct. 2019.