Darfur Conflict.
Location of Darfur:
Darfur is a state/region with a small population in the country of Sudan which is located in the continent/region of Africa.Its biggest cities and towns include Umm Kaddadah, Kutum, `Abd Allah Bashir and`Abd Allah.
Darfur is the western region of Sudan, Africa. Darfur is not a country in itself. The region was home to about 6 million people and is about the size of France.

Darfur is home to racially mixed tribes of settled peasants, who identify as African, and nomadic herders, who identify as Arab. The majority of people in both groups are Muslim. It is largely an arid plateau with the Marrah Mountains (Jebel Marra), a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3,042 meters (9,980 ft) in the centre of the region.
In early 1991, non-Arabs of the Zaghawa tribe of Sudan attested that they were victims of an intensifying Arab apartheid campaign, segregating Arabs and non- Arabs.[20] Sudanese Arabs, who controlled the government, were widely referred to as practicing apartheid against Sudan's non-Arab citizens Causes of the conflict:
The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) began attacking government targets in early 2003, accusing Khartoum of oppressing black Africans in favour of Arabs.
Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zaghawa communities.
Darfur is itself a very diverse place, made up of over 90 tribes and countless sub-clans. It is situated in western Sudan and covers an area the size of Texas, with a pre-conflict population of 6 million people. Darfur was an independent sultanate until it was incorporated into the rest of Sudan by British forces in 1916; however, it never received nearly the level of investment and development that Eastern Sudan and the Nile River Valley did under British rule. This marginalization continued under the string of central Sudanese governments that followed independence in 1956.
The current Darfur conflict is a product of an explosive combination of environmental, political, and economic factors. It is well known that environmental degradation and competition over shrinking resources have played, and continue to play, a critical role in communal conflicts in the Sahelian countries such as Mali, Niger, and Chad. In this regard, Darfur is no exception.
While the conflict in Darfur is most frequently described as one between distinct “Arab” and “non-Arab” (or “African”) tribes, the more accurate distinction between population groups in Darfur is not ethnic, but economic. The incredibly arid northern part of Darfur, populated mainly by tribes claiming “Arab” descent, developed an economy based on nomadic cattle- and camel-herding. The more arable south, where the majority of the population traces “non-Arab” (i.e., “African”) descent, developed a subsistence farming economy. Centuries of intermarriage and slave trading have blurred the lines between distinguishing physical ethnic characteristics, but for the most part this economic division has remained.

Starting in the 1980s, drought, famine and the spread of the deserts caused increased competition for land, severely upsetting the structure of Darfuri society. Farmers had claimed every available bit of land to farm or forage for food, closing off traditional routes used by the herders. The herders, desperate to feed and water their animals in a dwindling landscape, tried to force the southern routes open, attacking farmers who attempted to block their paths. Traditionally, conflicts were settled with little or no violence by respected local councils. These were abolished by the Bashir regime after it came to power in a coup in 1989, leaving no mechanisms for resolving disputes peacefully.
Spurred by this increasing conflict over scarce resources and wedge politics played by the central government in Northern Sudan, nomadic and farming tribes began to polarize along ethnic lines. To Darfuris facing starvation, the dichotomous ideology of African versus Arab began to have explanatory power. Amongst some sedentary “Africans”, the ideas that uncaring “Arabs” in Khartoum had let the famine happen and then Darfuri “Arabs” armed by their Libyan allies had attacked “African” farmers began to gain credence. Similarly, semi-nomadic Darfuri “Arabs” began to seriously consider that “Africans” had vindictively tried to punish them for the famine by trying to keep them from pastureland
For a number of years Darfur was the scene of sporadic clashes between “African” farming communities such as the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa, on the one hand, and “Arab” nomadic groups on the other. These clashes lead to many deaths and to the destruction and looting of homes. The government blamed competition over scarce resources for the clashes, and in fact, did nothing to try to resolve the problems in Darfur.
In 2002-2004, Darfuri leaders were excluded from the US backed peace talks, considered irrelevant in the context of the Second Sudanese Civil War. The proposed settlement agreement would ostensibly bring great economic development into Sudan, but none of the opportunity would benefit the people of Darfur. Darfuri leaders demanded political reform and economic assistance, but to no avail.
The conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region flared in 2003 when two rebel groups rose up against the government, accusing it of neglect. The government of Sudan moved swiftly to crush the revolt by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA).
Civilians of the same ethnic group as the rebels were targeted for destruction, considered potential threats by the government for their potential kinship to and support of rebel armies. The government of Sudan armed militias, known as the Janjaweed (“evil man on horseback” in Arabic). The Janjaweed, drawn from Arab tribes, have used scorched-earth tactics against civilians similar to those used in the North/South Civil War. The Janjaweed are blamed for killings, widespread rape and abductions. Refugees describe them as ferocious gun-wielding men riding camels or horses who burn villages and steal whatever they can carry.
The UN estimates that between 200,000-300,000 people have died in Darfur since the start of the current conflict in 2004.
Some 4.7 million people are currently directly affected by the conflict, out of a total population of around 6.2 million. In 2008 alone, 310,000 people have been displaced, or newly displaced – bringing the current total of displacement to 2.7 million.
Half of those affected by the conflict are children; of these, nearly 700,000 (the under-five population) have grown up knowing nothing but the conflict. ore than 350,000 people are deprived of humanitarian support due to the threat of attack faced by aid workers. Thousands starve each month due to the Sudanese government impeding humanitarian aid efforts
A further 4 million Darfuri residents are dependant on limited international humanitarian assistance. The violence is now spilling onto neighbouring Eastern Chad.