QandAs: Buzz

What is Darfur?

Answer:
Darfur is a region of Sudan, located in Eastern

Africa directly south of Egypt and east of Chad. Darfur is located in the western portion of Sudan and is known around the world as the site of significant conflict over the last six years.

Darfur has been characterized by a racially diverse population of Sudanese including those who identify racially as African and those who identify racially as Arab. The majority of residents in Darfur are Muslim, regardless of race.

In February 2003, non-Arab residents revolted against the government, which in turn sent an Arab-Sudanese militia called the Janjaweed to raze villages throughout the region and quell the uprising. Estimates of the death toll are 400,000 people, most civilians including children, women and men not involved with the military. An additional 3 million residents of Darfur have been relocated to IDP camps and 4 million rely on humanitarian aid.

The Sudanese government has not allowed United Nations peacekeeping troops to enter, allowing the conflict that many consider a genocide to continue unabated. In August 2009, however, the head of the African Union- United Nations mission in Darfur said that he believed outright war to be over and the main challenge now is to handle local conflicts, banditry, land and water disputes.