The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 following an uprising by rebel groups against the Sudanese government. The government’s severe retaliation claimed more than 400,000 lives and left millions displaced, including 365,000 who were forced to flee to the neighboring country of Chad. Today, 18 years after the violence began, hundreds of thousands of Darfuris remain in arid camps in the Chadian Saharan Desert. Jewish World Watch was formed in direct response to this genocide, and we continue to support these survivors today through our Seeds of Survival empowerment project.

Background

• What caused the Darfuri genocide?

Sudan has been at war for longer than it has been at peace. The Sudanese people have been plagued by genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes since independence in 1956. Inequitable wealth sharing of revenues from resources, the struggle for southern self-determination, ethnic rivalries, and competing views on the role of religion in the state have all been drivers of conflict.

At the heart of Sudan’s protracted conflicts is the division between the Arab-dominated center in Khartoum and the marginalized non-Arab populations in the geographic and socio-economic periphery. In 2003, the uprising in Darfur by two rebel groups, claiming inequitable treatment of the non-Arab Sudanese population, led the government to respond with a genocidal campaign to rid the area of non-Arab populations. 

• What are the main humanitarian challenges experienced by the Darfuris?

Refugee Crisis: The Darfur genocide has led to approximately 400,000 Darfuri deaths and forced another 365,000 to flee to refugee camps in neighboring Chad. The Darfuri refugees’ suffering in these imperiled camps along the Darfur/Chad border no longer commands global attention, making the Darfuris the largest invisible refugee population in the world. 

Food Insecurity: Each refugee in Chad currently receives “only about 39 percent of the generally recommended minimum daily intake,” according to the World Food Program. The reduced rations, meant to feed refugees for a month, do not even last an entire week. 

Education: Darfuri refugees are no longer permitted to learn Sudanese. Their educational curriculum is now conveyed in Chadian. This detrimental effect will result in a lost generation of Sudanese speakers if they are ever to return home. 

Internally Displaced Safety: The cutbacks in assistance from UN agencies such as the WFP and UNHCR also result in de facto forced return of Darfuri refugees to a region still insecure and peppered with violence. In January 2018, Sudan, Chad, and the UN signed an agreement to repatriate 20,000 Sudanese refugees from Chad to Darfur. The agreement set out estimated numbers of refugees who will return during 2018, types and levels of reintegration assistance they will receive, and logistical aspects of the repatriation operation. The repatriation, however, was temporarily suspended due to insecurity and lack of services and infrastructure for returnees in their areas of origin.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of displaced Darfuris, who returned to their Sudanese villages, were assaulted, beaten, or killed by militant new settlers. The combination of roaming rebels, stockpiles of uncollected weapons and armed new settlers has led to great danger for recent returnees. The “new Janjaweed” (“evil men on horseback”), other militia and security forces supported by the GoS, and unidentified gunmen exploiting the vulnerability of the returnees, have killed farmers and innocent civilians, stolen crops, destroyed food surpluses, raided markets, kidnapped people for ransom, raped, and pillaged–all with general impunity. Returning farmers are afraid to go back to their plots for fear of attacks from new settlers who have taken the land in their absence or by militiamen who steal livestock and crops. 

The general atmosphere of insecurity, coupled with the government’s impotence in addressing these attacks, has crippled the agricultural economy and compromised voluntary returns. One leader of the displaced population stressed that security is non-existent despite the government’s repeated claims to the contrary. That services like education, health, and potable water are entirely lacking from the villages to which returnees are meant to return.

Gender-Based Violence: Darfuri survivors are in constant fear for their lives and safety, regardless of living in Sudan or Chad. Women are wary of straying too far from their residences in fear of being raped or assaulted with threats, for those living in Chad’s refugee camps, from inside and outside the camps.

Financial Mobility/Poverty: Having fled their homes in Darfur, both the refugees and internally displaced Darfuris are severely impoverished with few options for generating an income. The lack of jobs available to refugees is due in part to restrictions placed on them by the Chadian government, but also, the economy of the camps and surrounding community has simply not grown to accommodate the refugee community.

Ethnic Disparity: Considered to be the first genocide of the 21st century, the Darfur genocide began in 2003 after rebels, led mainly by non-Arab Muslim sedentary tribes, including the Fur and Zaghawa,  from the region, rose against the government. They claimed years of inequitable treatment and economic marginalization, among other grievances. Instead of directly attacking the rebel forces, the government launched a widespread genocidal campaign to “get at the fish by draining the sea” and targeted non-Arab tribes in the region, regardless of whether they were civilians or rebel forces with indiscriminate aerial bombardments and assaults from ground forces. 

The government unleashed Arab militias known as the Janjaweed to attack villages and destroy communities. Janjaweed attacks were notoriously brutal and invoked a slash and burn policy that included killing and severely injuring the people, burning homes, stealing or burning food and livestock, and poisoning water wells.

Families’ Health & Wellbeing: UNHCR has reported higher indices of so-called “negative coping mechanisms,” explaining that “these include an increase in school dropouts as refugee children seek work to help buy food for their families; exploitation and abuse of women refugees who venture out of camps in search of work or land to grow crops; ‘survival sex’ by women and girls trying to raise money to buy food; early marriage of young girls; increased stress and domestic violence within families; and more incidents of theft and other activities that raise tensions within camps and with surrounding communities.”

• How does JWW help the Darfuris presently?

Empower affected populations with sustainable livelihood solutions and immediate, informal learning opportunities that will boost their resilience, improve their lives in the Chad refugee camp settings, and translate well in Darfur, should they choose to return. JWW’s Seeds of Survival program teaches survivors how to sustainably feed their families with just a small plot of dry land.

The program has successfully trained over 1,000 people in Eastern Chad in perma-gardening, improving food consumption, agricultural production, their ability to save money and their mental well-being while indirectly benefiting approximately 3,300 family members.

Broadcast our advocacy channels to ensure the safe and voluntary return of displaced populations and the presence of necessary services and protections to facilitate their smooth reintegration.

Monitor the activities of armed groups and security forces as well as the Government of Sudan’s response to violations;.

Call for the international community to remain engaged throughout the transition from peacekeeping to peacebuilding instead of abandoning its responsibilities at this critical and unstable stage.

• What has JWW done to help the Darfuris previously?

JWW came into being as a response to the Darfur genocide. The Darfuris remain a vital cornerstone of our work. 

Solar Cooker Project: JWW initiated the Solar Cooker Project in 2006 as a way of protecting Darfuri women and girls – survivors of the Darfur genocide living as refugees in Eastern Chad – by reducing their dangerous trips outside of the camps in search of firewood for cooking, serving hundreds of thousands of refugees in five camps. 

Recycled Water Gardens: Along with two of JWW’s partners, JWW completed the installation of the grey water reclamation systems to benefit all families in the Iridimi and Touloum refugee camps in Chad. With the installation of inexpensive plastic sheeting and PVC pipes, women in refugee camps turned their family bathing areas into reservoirs for grey-water collection. They used the collected water to irrigate small vegetable patches.

Water Wells in the Refugee Camps: One of JWW’s key early efforts was to supply water wells in the refugee camps in Chad. Many schools participated by raising funds to supply one water well, each a lifeline for 500 refugees. The wells were built with local supplies by local labor, organized and led by a JWW partner.

Sister Schools: JWW, coupled with partners including top NBA players, sponsored the building, staffing and equipping of the Sudan Djedid (New Sudan) and Ali Dinar B Schools in the Djabal refugee camp in Eastern Chad. The schools, designed to serve over 4,000 students, were the first of what was conceived as a series of schools to be built in the 12 Darfuri refugee camps in Chad. JWW also helped fund the Darasalam School in the Goz Amer refugee camp.

Backpack Project: This was created so that frightened children in the Oure Cassoni refugee camp in Chad could attend schools run by one of our partners. JWW distributed over 15,000 backpacks filled with shoes, books, school supplies, soap and toothpaste to school-aged children. The backpacks allowed each recipient to make the most of school under the most difficult of circumstances. Each backpack also contained something intangible but essential to their well-being: hope.

Little Ripples: Along with a partner organization, JWW supported Little Ripples, a preschool program tailored to a population exposed to severe trauma. In Chad’s Darfuri refugee camps, there is no formal education system for young children, leaving them unsupervised, vulnerable to the dangers of the camp, and at a disadvantage for the future. Little Ripples provides a safe and nurturing environment for some of the youngest refugees to learn while their parents must leave home during the day to seek out necessities. With support from JWW, the first Little Ripples school opened in Goz Amer refugee camp in Eastern Chad in the summer of 2013. It serves 400 children. The school has since sought to impact more children through a home-based model called Little Ripple Ponds.

Summer Educational Toy Lift: JWW partnered with Los Angeles area summer camps to bring school supplies to children in Darfur refugee camps located in Sudan. JWW collected 15,000 items through this initiative. A JWW partner delivered the educational toys to several camps in North, South, and West Darfur.

Clinics in Deleij and El Geneina: Working with a partner, JWW funded two permanent medical clinics in Sudan to serve approximately 40,000 internally displaced people and resident conflict-affected populations of Darfur near the border of Chad.

Water Availability: JWW provided funding to a partner to improve the provision of water in three Sudanese refugee camps in Nyala and Kass (South Darfur) and the overpopulated and under-resourced Hamadiya camp in the Zalingei region (West Darfur).

• What more needs to be done?

JWW’s interventions work with Darfuri refugees to inject a level of normalcy into these survivors’ lives, empowering them with a sense of resilience and control over their own destinies. The relative helplessness of relying solely or largely on humanitarian assistance becomes empowerment via solidifying a sustainable livelihood and assists them in developing skills that can be transferable anywhere they may live. Read our Darfur strategy action plan.

Crisis Timeline

2003: Considered to be the first genocide of the 21st century, the Darfur genocide began after rebels, led mainly by non-Arab Muslim sedentary tribes, including the Fur and Zaghawa, from the region, rose against the government. They claimed years of inequitable treatment and economic marginalization, among other grievances. In response, the Sudanese government unleashed Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed (“evil men on horseback”), to attack villages and destroy communities, regardless of whether they were civilians or rebel forces. 

September 2004: President George Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared what was happening in Darfur to be genocide. JWW was formed.

2005: A hybrid African Union/United Nations Operation in Darfur (known as UNAMID) was deployed to monitor the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement and subsequent 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur. 

July 2008: The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, requested an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. This milestone marked the first time the ICC had indicted a sitting Head of State. 

2009-2010: The ICC issued arrest warrants for President Omar al-Bashir for alleged crimes committed in Darfur, including counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Although the warrants remain in force, Al-Bashir continues to preside over Sudan. 

2011: A power-sharing agreement between the government and rebels – which created the Darfur Regional Authority and aimed to establish an equal distribution of wealth and political power – is signed, though violence continues to this day in many parts of Darfur. 

2012: The discovery of gold in Darfur further fueled violence and displacement throughout the region, and conflict dynamics have since morphed from the initial outbreak of violence in 2003.

2013: The Sudanese government launched the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), many of whom were once part of the Janjaweed who first gained infamy for their role in the Darfur genocide. 

2014: In response to five years of stagnation in the ICC case, and limited support from the UN in bringing Al-Bashir to justice, Chief Prosecutor Bensouda stated in late 2014 that she would not actively pursue the prosecution of Al-Bashir until the UN and member nations did their due diligence and supported the ICC. Since the ICC does not have a police force, it must rely on individual states to arrest individuals indicted by the ICC.

July 2018: The UN Security Council decided to scale back the UNAMID, to wrap up the UN-African Union joint mission by the end of 2020, even though the fighting and attacks on civilians continue to this day. 

December 14, 2019: President Omar al-Bashir was sentenced to two years in detention by a court in Khartoum after being convicted of money laundering and corruption. He was also indicted over genocide and war crimes by the ICC for his role in the Darfur conflict.