Jan Grarup

For over four years a bloody conflict has raged in the Darfur region in the western part of Sudan. Initially a reaction by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government to a rebellion attack in El Fasher by the SLA (Sudan Liberation Army), today it has escalated to a complex and tangled conflict. At the first sign of attack, the government sent local Arab nomad tribes, so-called janjaweed, to fight the rebels alongside government troops. These warriors on horseback were directed to seek out the SLA members in the villages where they were supposed to live, massacring anybody on their way, and left free to destroy or burn whatever was left behind.

Four years later, and the result has been a gradual mass genocide of black civilians, with an estimate suggesting that more than 200,000 have been killed so far. Over 2 million are now living as displaced people in refugee camps, with nothing left of their homes, often separated from their family. What started as a reaction to squash a rebellion, has turned into a massive exercise of power by the Sudanese government, lead by President Bashir.

Today the situation is further complex still, as the government hands out arms to any side, Arab or African, who declare themselves against the rebels. In some cases they have even armed both sides of the same mini-conflict. Further, the war has spread into Chad and the Central African Republic.

Since November 2006 eastern Chad has had more than 200,000 IDP's (Internally Displaced People) due to janjaweed attacks on their side of the border. The real purpose of procrastinating and enlarging the conflict is to keep people busy with a constant crisis, so that the "divide and destroy" policy can ensure that the booming oil revenues remain in the same hands. The result, a silent genocide.