Transcript Document

Where is the Sudan?
• Access to the Nile, both
the White and the Blue
Rivers, and the Red Sea.
• Nine bordering countriesCentral African Republic,
Chad, Democratic
Republic of the Congo,
Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Libya, Uganda.
Sudanese Geography
• South- plains or ironstone soil
• The greatest part of the country areas
are covered by clay plains.
• Desert- northern 30% of country
Mountain Ranges
•Imatong-South Sudan,
•Jebel Marra- West Sudan,
•Red Sea Hilis’lin- East Sudan
Overview of Resources
• Arable land- 200 million feddans
• Forests- acacia trees and pastures- 250
million feddans
• Mineral resources have not been fully
explored as of yet but include:
– petroleum, natural gas, gold, silver, gold,
silver, chrome, asbestos, manganese,
gypsum, mica, zinc, iron, lead, uranium,
copper, kaolin, cobalt, granite, nickel and
tin.
Life in the Sudan
Sudan
The United States
• Population: 41,236,378
(July 2006)
• Birth Rate: 34.53
births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 8.97
deaths/1,000 population
• Life Expectancy: 58.92
years
• Fertility Rate: 4.72
children born/woman
• Population:
298,444,215 (July
2006)
• Birth Rate: 14.14
births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 8.26
deaths/1,000 population
• Life Expectancy: 77.85
years
• Fertility Rate: 2.09
children born/woman
The Sudanese
• Literacy Rate:
– definition: age 15 and over can
read and write
– male: 71.8%
– female: 50.5% (2003)
• Religion:
– 70% Sunni Muslim
– 25% indigenous beliefs
– 5% Christian
• Language:
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Arabic (official),
Nubian,
Ta Bedawie,
Sudanic languages,
English
The Crux of the Genocide
in Darfur
Sudan: A Fragmented Nation
• Sudan’s national language is Arabic
• Sudan has 142 languages only 8 of which are
considered dead.
• Of those 142 languages is estimated that there
are up to 400 dialects used in the Sudan.
• It is estimated that there are 247 cultural or
ethnic groups in the Sudan.
• Do to the fragmented nature of the population a
government truly representative of the
Sudanese people is nearly impossible.
Religion in Sudan
• The majority of Sudan’s population is
Muslim.
• There is a small Christian minority located
in the Southern regions of Sudan, around
Khartoum, and near the Red Sea.
• The residents of Darfur are all Muslim.
Muslim vs. Non-Muslim?
It is a common misconception that the
genocide in Darfur is grounded in
religion:
• Darfurians are Muslim.
• The Janjaweed are Muslim.
• The Government in Khartoum is Muslim.
• Religion is not the basis for the genocide in
Darfur.
Ethnicity in Sudan
6% 4%
40%
50%
Black-African
Arab
Beja
Other
The population in Darfur is representative of the population
of Sudan containing Black-Africans, Arabs as well as the
other smaller minority groups.
Arab Ethnicity as a Social
Construction
• Throughout Sudan the idea of Arab ethnicity has
been socially constructed.
• Through the “Arabization” of Sudan Arab culture
and social practices have been imposed upon
the Sudanese people including the Darfurians.
• The phrases often used for Non-Arabs are zunji
or zurga both of which translate to mean
“black.”
• In Sudan and especially Darfur Non-Arabs
are considered inferior to Arabs.
Arab and Non-Arab Conflict?
The genocide in Darfur revolves not around
religious affiliation but rather ethnic
affiliation:
• The Janjaweed soldiers do not attack the Arab villages
and families in Darfur.
• Instead the Arab villages will be left unscathed but
surrounded by destroyed predominantly Non-Arab
villages.
• This is due to the conflict socially constructed between
individuals of Arab and Non-Arab identities.
Peace and the Stable Economy
When there is little economic disparity and a fairly
high standard of living, a country usually has
little domestic violence. When many citizens are
starving and few are doing very well then the
“take back what is yours” sentiment can foster a
desire in a group to kill those who are
positioning them in a lower socio-economic
class.
Economic Facts
SUDAN
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$85.89 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 38.7%
industry: 20.3%
services: 41% (2003 est.)
Unemployment rate:
18.7% (2002 est.)
Population below poverty line:
40% (2004 est.)
Industries:
oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement,
edible oils, sugar, soap distilling,
shoes, petroleum refining,
pharmaceuticals, armaments
U.S.
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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$12.31 trillion (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 20.4%
services: 78.7% (2005 est.)
Unemployment rate:
5.1% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:
12% (2004 est.)
Industries:
leading industrial power in the
world, highly diversified and
technologically advanced;
petroleum, steel, motor vehicles,
aerospace, telecommunications
By comparing the Sudan with the U.S, you can more easily
compare and see how economic instability exists in the
region .
Overview of Economic Situation
• From 1997 to date, Sudan has been
implementing IMF macroeconomic reforms. In
1999, Sudan began exporting crude oil
Increased oil production, Agricultural production
remains Sudan's most important sector,
employing 80% of the work force, contributing
39% of GDP.
• Most farms remain rain-fed and susceptible to
drought. Chronic instability.
Droughts and Instability Lead to Death
When drought occurs in such arid areas,
the living conditions of local people
become very poor.
People compete for the meager available
resources. There is a history of
communities fighting for scarce
resources in all parts of Africa,
especially in the Sudan.
Droughts and Death
• After long periods of poverty, trust in the elders
and old systems to provide resources begins to
fail. The fight to take the resources from those
who have it becomes an intrinsic value. In
regions like the Sudan those lucky enough to
have resources develop a complex that they
have a “right to the resources.”
• These competing attitudes often erupt in
violence.
Health in Darfur
• According to WHO (World Health Organization)
10,000 Sudanese refugees die by disease per month
• The main causes of death are complications arising
from malnutrition, dehydration, malaria and acute
respiratory infections.
• Due to poor sanitation, overcrowding and
inadequate shelter people in these refugee camps
are more susceptible to disease: Hepatitis E.,
measles, cholera and malaria.
•Outside the
camps, where
people were hiding
in riverbeds and
bush, the spread of
polio is a major
concern.
Complications in delivering
humanitarian relief
include the lack of local
health authorities,
insufficient funding and
the inaccessibility of
large parts of the region.
War and
displacement
have disturbed
the already
minimal access
to clean water
and food.
•Sudan is an Authoritarian Republic, all political power is in the
hands of President Umar Hassan al-Bashir. Has controlled govt.
since military led coup in 1989.
•The country is currently in a transitional period following the
signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that officially
ended the civil war between the Sudanese Government (based in
Khartoum) and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation
Front (SPLM) rebel group.
•Government of National Unity (GNU), the National Congress
Party (NCP) which is the new name for the National Islamic Front
and SPLM formed a power-sharing government under the 2005
CPA. NCP, which came to power by military coup in 1989, is the
majority partner.
•NCP is essentially unchanged since it seized power from a
democratically elected government in a 1989 military coup,
deliberately aborting Sudan’s most promising peace process since
independence in 1956.
The Sudanese government, while publicly denying
that it supports the Janjaweed (loosely organized
Arab militia force, primarily on horse and camel),
has provided arms and assistance and has
participated in joint attacks with the group, targeting
the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit ethnic groups in
Darfur.
Human Rights Watch obtained in July 2004
confidential Sudanese government documents that
directly implicate high-ranking government officials
in a policy of support for the Janjaweed.
• "It’s absurd to distinguish between the Sudanese
government forces and the militias-they are one.
These documents show that militia activity has not
just been condoned, it’s been specifically
supported by Sudan government officials."
-Peter Takirambudde, executive director of Human Rights
Watch’s Africa Division.
•Genocide in Darfur is not the genocidal campaign of a
government at the height of its ideological hubris. It is genocide
by force of habit. As part of a ghastly jihad, the NIF conducted
relentless military assaults on civilians and enforced a
humanitarian aid embargo that lasted more than a decade.
•The result of these policies was that between 1989 and 2002
many hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were either killed or
displaced. In the Nuba Mountains and the oil regions of southern
Sudan, as in Darfur, the NIF regime settled upon a deliberate
policy of human destruction, targeting ethnically African
populations that had rebelled against, or were victims of, decades
of political and economic marginalization.
•Darfur is an extension of the NIF’s actions that have been taking
place for the past decade. The new Sudanese government is not
different than the previous one because the same people are in
place.
Recent Developments
Nov. 16, 2006, Ethiopia: An
agreement was reached that will bring
UN aid to the African Union. The UN
is giving soldiers, and assistance to
the African Union force in terms of
money and training.
Kofi Annan has ‘promised’ 17000
soldiers and 3000 cops in addition to
the force of 7000 there now.
As of now, there is not a set plan
because of Sudan’s reservations of
allowing foreign aid into the country.
Optimistically looking to have the 3
phase plan set by the end of a year
that includes moving wealth and power
away from the Janjaweed supporting
government. This agreement means
very little on paper. Although it is the
UN’s attempt to seem like they are
actively doing something, the influx of
money and power into the wrong area
will be more damaging than good.
It has to be controlled.

Janjaweed – the pro Sudanese
government rebel forces have enacted
more attacks on Darfurian villages.
Sudanese government troops forced
children into a hut, set it on fire and
killed parents that tried to save them.
This is proof of a GENOCIDE. The
attackers are trying to stop the growth
of a population = proof of a genocide
as it is defined.
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Doctors without Borders have
increased capabilities to bring more
assistance to victims of violence.
 Sudan goes to great lengths to
keep out media and humanitarian
efforts.
The international community has
increased their efforts because of
similar ethnic violence in neighboring
Chad
 There is a fear of domino effect.
When there has been civil war
and conflicts in the many
bordering countries, it has an
even greater detrimental effect on
the conflict in Darfur.
Picture of refugees of the Kalma
camp in South Darfur in 2005.
Works Cited
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and the
Bureau of Intelligence and Research.(2004). Documenting
atrocities in Darfur. In Samuel Totten & Eric Markhausen (Eds.),
Genocide in Darfur: Investigating the Atrocities in the Sudan
(pp. 199-222). New York: Routledge.
Powell, Colin L.(2004). The Crisis in Darfur. In Samuel. Totten
& Eric Markhausen (Eds.), Genocide in Darfur: Investigating
the Atrocities in the Sudan (pp. 259-267). New York: Routledge.
Prunier, Gerard. (2005). Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide.
London: Cornell University Press.
January, Brendan. (2006). Genocide: Modern Crimes Against
Humanity. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books.
Websites Consulted
www.cia.gov
http://www.darfurgenocide.org/darfur.php
Library of Congress Country Profile of Sudan
www.thejoshuaproject.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6161692.stm
www.ethnolgue.com
Fact Sheet on Darfur from UnderstandingSudan.org
http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/world/slot3_20061026.html?pagew
anted=print
http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/gendef.htm