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The lasting scars and pain of the war in Darfur

The people in the western region of Sudan still have a long, painful road ahead to begin to heal from the conflict.

Internally displaced Sudanese women
Displaced women wait in a line for food to be distributed by World Vision in the Seraif camp in southern Darfur. [File: Reuters]
Published On 26 Feb 2023

Twenty years ago, conflict broke out in the western Sudanese state of Darfur as non-Arab tribes rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum.

After Omar al-Bashir came to power through a military coup backed by the National Islamic Front in 1989, tensions grew as non-Arab tribes accused the government of marginalising and underfunding them.

In 2002, the Darfur Liberation Front (later called the Sudan Liberation Movement) was formed, and on February 26, 2003, it claimed responsibility for an attack on Golo in the Jebel Marra area of Darfur. The group was joined by the Justice and Equality Movement, and a rebellion was launched.

Khartoum’s response was to support and arm local Arab militia known as the Janjaweed to support its forces in fighting the African tribes. The Janjaweed were later absorbed into Sudan’s official forces by al-Bashir.

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and more than two million were displaced, both internally and over the border in neighbouring Chad.

While a peace agreement was signed in 2020, the people of Darfur still have a long, painful journey ahead of them to heal from the conflict.

Sudanese children orphaned during the recent attacks by Sudan government troops and the Janjaweed Arabs
Sudanese children orphaned during attacks by Sudan government troops and the Janjaweed militia sit outside their home in Kidingir in southern Darfur. [File: stringer/Reuters]
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Anka village165 km North East of El Fasher i
Anka village on August 30, 2004, after it was burned down by Janjaweed militiamen, according to testimony villagers gave to the United Nations. [Handout: World Food Programme via Reuters]
An armed Sudanese rebel
A rebel from the Justice and Equality Movement arrives at the abandoned village of Chero Kasi, less than an hour after Janjaweed militiamen set it ablaze on September 7, 2004. A United States-sponsored resolution calling for sanctions against Sudan's government was debated at the UN in New York that week. [Scott Nelson/Getty Images]
An elderly Sudanese refugee
A Sudanese refugee lives in a tent in the Oure Cassoni Refugee Camp in November 2006 in Bahai, Chad. At the time, the UN estimated more than 26,000 people were living in the camp. The refugees still were not safe there due to fighting between Chadian rebels and the government and attacks from Chadian Arabs and Sudanese militia who crossed the border. [Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images]
Habile IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camp
The sun goes down over the Habile camp for displaced people in Chad near the border with Sudan in 2007. At the time, there was fighting along the border between the two countries. About 200,000 people from Darfur had fled to Chad, and more the 100,000 Chadian villagers had had to leave their homes and became displaced themselves. [Uriel Sinai/Getty Images]
a burnt out Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC)
An armoured personnel carrier belonging to the African Union Mission in Sudan was burned out at the Haskanita Military Group Site in southern Darfur in 2007 when heavily armed men overran the camp in 30 vehicles. The attack was the worst assault on the undermanned force since it deployed in July 2004. The attack killed 10 peacekeepers and left 25 missing. [Handout: Stuart Price/AMIS via AFP]
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women and children stand in front of burnt out shops
Sudanese women and children inspect shops at the marketplace in Muhajariya town in southern Darfur in 2007 after fighting that the local Sudan LIberation Movement said killed more than 50 people. It also said the attack was backed by the Sudanese government. [Handout: AMIS via AFP]
Mohammed Sigit, the sheikh of Sigili village
Attahi Mohammed Sigit, the sheikh of Sigili village in northern Darfur, shows UN peacekeepers the aftermath of a 2012 attack by a local militia in which his 18-year-old son was killed. [Handout: Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID via AFP]
A handout picture released by the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur shows a displaced woman posing on a makeshift bed as she came to inspect the remains of her burned house in Khor Abeche, 83km northeast of Nyala. South Darfur.
A displaced woman inspects the remains of her burned house in Khor Abeche in southern Darfur in 2014. [Handout: Albert Gonzalez Farran/UNAMID via AFP]
Zam Zam camp for Internally Displaced People (IDP), North Darfur
The Zam Zam camp in northern Darfur was home to people displaced by the conflict within the region. [File: Ashraf Shazly/AFP]
Sudanese children gather in front of an armoured vehicle
Children gather in front of an armoured vehicle in the Kalma displaced persons camp in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on December 30, 2020. The UN Security Council agreed to end the UN-African Union's peacekeeping mission in Darfur when its mandate ceased on December 31 that year. The UN peacekeeping mission have begin in 2007 and had 16,000 peacekeepers at its peak. [AFP]
Sudanese check the aftermath of violence in the village of al-Twail Saadoun, 85 kilometres south of Nyala town
Sudanese people check the aftermath of violence in the village of Al-Twail Saadoun, about an hour south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, on February 2, 2021. [Ashraf Shazly/AFP]