As one who did not know much about the conflict in Darfur region of Sudan, I had to do a little bit of research to learn what it was all about. I had seen a lot of bumper stickers and many posters that said “Save Darfur” and I had always wanted to know what it meant but never got around to it. I told a friend that I had not known what it was and I got a look of severe confusion as if to say, “You’re joking right?” I was not. So bear with me as I give a little bit of background information about the conflict. Upon researching I found a good source of information from BBC News Online. The conflict started shortly after Sudan gained independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956. With a long line of incompetent rulers, there have been many human rights issues that have taken place. The Civil war between Khartoum and Southern Sudan, there have been an estimated 1.2 million deaths – which is a staggering amount of deaths to happen domestically – and around 1.5 million dollars a day for the economy. In 1972, a peace agreement was made between the two regions that marked the end of the first Civil War. This peace between them did not last long, when in the early 1980’s aggression between them could not go unanswered. With more frequent attacks from the Sudan’s Peoples Liberation Army, this lead to a full fledged Civil War between the Sudanese people. There have been many attempts at peace however, with the last one dissolving in 1994. I believe that will be a good base of knowledge for this conflict, if there are weeks when there is not much activity, I may come back and fill in the blank spots of the history as I see fit. If you care to do more research there are plenty of places to do so. The information I did for this blog, as stated, was from BBC News Online.
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