SHRO Quarterly

Saif Elnasr Idris

The Sudanese Human Rights Qaurterly, Issue No. 8, July 1999

Despite the fact that the region never witnessed any significant development during the colonial era, it enjoyed the prevalence of security and stability largely because of the effective presence of central government organs and strong native administration that wielded considerable influence among the various ethnic groups. Even occasional conflicts that erupted between the nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farming communities were very rare because the British administrators had enacted and strictly applied laws that prohibited the movement of animal herds across the territories of the farmers until after January every year when they would have harvested their crops. However, when independence was achieved and national governments took charge of administering the country, such governments never paid attention to the problems of the region, viewing it only as a source of cheap labor and manpower of the army.

DarFur was therefore totally neglected and remained underdeveloped without schools, health facilities or a usable road network. As a result, the role and influence of the State gradually diminshed in the eyes of the citizens. Its presence could only be felt in the urban centers. Anarchy and instability started to take hold and the citizen found himself in the grip of fear and terror. As would be expected, the citizen had recourse to the tribe for protection and collective security.

The situation was made worse when the government of the former dictator Ja'far Nimeiri abolished the system of native administration in northern Sudan. The Chadian civil war right across the border complicated the situation further by throwing the region wide open for weapons trafficking and turning it into a haven for some of the Chadian insurgent groups. The introduction of the regional government system in 1980 accensuated ethnic and racial sensitivities, so that the mutual reference to the various ethnic groups as "Arab" or "Blacks" became common, further inflaming tribal animosities.

Unfortunately, all these problems never seemed to impress the central government in Khartoum which contniued to ignore and behave like a foreign spectator. In fact, the government adopted policies which amounted to the violation of the human rights of the people of DarFur. Citizens from DarFur who migrated to the national capital, Khartoum, in search of work or educational opportunities were discriminated against and treated like foreigners.

The round-up policy of dark-skinned people on the streets of Khartoum (known as the Kashsha) which was carried out during Nimeiri's era affected many citizens of DarFur who were forcibly deported back to their region. Worse still, the failed attempt by rebels loyal to an opposition group to seize power in Khartoum on 2 July 1976 was turned into a witch-hunt targeted against the people of DarFur. Many innocent citizens lost their lives in this outrage.

And yet, the region has been abused by certain political parties as a stepping stone to acquire a parliamentary majority without providing any services or development schemes for the population of DarFur. Instead, the region experienced tribal strife encouraged and fanned by the outside forces that sponsored the creation and arming of tribal nmilitias for specific tribes, putting other tribes at a clear disadvantage as they had to face such tribes with only white arms. This behavior politicized the tribal conflicts in DarFur and transformed them into extensive civil wars that continue to bedevil the region until now.