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Pakistan's Tribal Areas "Proto-Darfur"?

August 22, 2004

(Sudan Information Resources)

(Link to Maps of Sudan; Country Study)

The Head Heab on Sudan's Darfur Conflict:

March 25-"With the southern Sudan peace process moving in fits and starts and the western Darfur conflict turning into a major human rights calamity, observers are now warning that fighting may also break out in the eastern ash-Sharqi province. Ash-Sharqi is the home of the Beja people (the "Fuzzy Wuzzies" of Kipling fame) who, like the inhabitants of Darfur, are ethnically distinct from Sudan's Arab population..."
March 19-"The government of Sudan has reportedly agreed for the first time to participate in internationally monitored talks to mediate the Darfur conflict. The war in western Sudan has escalated even as the peace process in the south advances to fruition; in recent weeks, it has become a major humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of refugees, reports of massacres by government-affiliated paramilitaries and combat spilling over the border with Chad. Now, though, it appears that the government, which recently saved face by declaring victory, may be ready to come to the table" February 16-An IRIN special report focuses on Chad's increasing role in the Darfur conflict:
Chad is much more than a passive host to the fleeing victims of one of Africa’s newest wars, which began in February 2003 when two rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), rose up to push their political and economic agendas...At the same time as playing mediator between Khartoum and the rebels, Chad has openly supplied troops to the Sudanese army in Darfur.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Sudan Update:The three and a half million people living in Darfur region, geographically isolated and neglected by central government in Khartoum, have been adversely affected by conflict since the early 1980s. The relatively peaceful equilibrium between its ethnic groups has been destroyed by environmental degradation - the spread of the desert and the effects of the Sahel drought - coupled with the divide-and-rule tactics of central government and the influx of modern weaponry.

ENERGY RESOURCES OF SUDAN: US Department of Energy Country Analysis Briefs: As of January 2003, Sudan's estimated proven reserves of crude oil stood at 563 million barrels, more than twice the 262.1 million barrels estimated in 2001. Crude oil production averaged 227,500 barrels per day (bbl/d) during 2002, a figure that has been rising steadily since the completion of the export pipeline in July 1999. By 2003, oil output could surpass 300,000 bbl/d, with plans to reach 450,000 bbl/d by 2005. In August 2001, in recognition of Sudan's growing significance as an oil exporter, OPEC granted the country observer status at OPEC meetings. (CF CIA World Factbook Data, Rank; note Sudan #40; 52 in natural gas reserves, but export capacity for former great since domestic consumption is nil)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Sudan: Darfur - attacks against civilians ongoing "The government of Sudan has made no progress to ensure the protection of civilians caught up in the conflict in Darfur," Amnesty International said today. Scores of civilians have reportedly been killed and dozens of villages burnt by the government-backed Janjawid militias over the last few weeks.

"This is not a situation where the central government has lost control. Men, women and children are being killed and villages are burnt and looted because the central government is allowing militias aligned to it to pursue what amounts to a strategy of forced displacement through the destruction of homes and livelihood of the farming populations of the region," Amnesty International said.

WEBLOGS DEVOTED TO SUDAN: The Sudanese Emancipation and Protection Network consists chiefly of selected news articles online; The Passion of the Pesent, which offers bona fide original writing and research by five writers based in the UK and USA; the now-almost expired Sudan - News and Analysis (Eric Reeves); and Sudan Watch (by Ingrid Jones); Coalition for Darfur;