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What Caused the Darfur Genocide? Essay

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On February 26, 2003, two Darfuri rebel movements- the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Justice and Equality Movement took up arms against the Sudanese Government, accusing the failure to protect sedentary people from attacks by nomads and the marginalization of the area in Darfur. Darfur is a region in the western part of Sudan, where it is home to 6 million people from around 100 tribes. In response to the attack, the Janjaweed, which is the government-supported Arab tribesman, raided non-Arab villages in Darfur to create a Pan-Arab state by eradicating all the non-Arab farmers from the land. The Darfur genocide arose when the Sudan Liberation Movement and the JEM, which is the largest rebel group in Darfur, entered Al-Fashir, the …show more content…

The term “genocide” is defined as, “any one of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Although the Sudanese government states that they were simply putting down an armed insurance, as in they were just trying to defend itself, there are strong evidence that indicates that the violence in Darfur is an occurrence of genocide. Innocent villages were not only burned down but innocent people were also raped and killed. While up to this time the Sudanese government declares that their slaughters were motivated by rebel activities, more indication of ethnical cleansing is displayed. For example, rebel activity is much higher among the Zaghawa than the Massaleit but it is said that there were more racial epithets in attacks on Massaleit and the attacks are much deadlier. Additionally three things that could predict killing and rape of the Africans in Darfur were through sex, hearing racial epithets and whether one was Arabian or not. While African women were more likely to get raped and killed, African men were killed instantly. Rape was not simply a tool to terrify Darfurians but was also used to alter the race of children. One way to make the child Arab was merely by having an Arab father so raping an African woman was operated to alternate Arab children for African children. Moreover when racial

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