Arab Militias also called Janjaweed was a group of a government- armed and funded. They systematically destroyed the Darfurians by burning villages, looting economic resources, polluting water sources, and murdering, raping, and torturing civilians. These militias are a historic rivals of the main rebel groups, the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). (World Without Genocide).
Sudan is divided by religion (70 percent Muslim, 25 percent animist and 5 percent Christian); ethnicity (African and Arab origin Sudanese); tribe; and economic activity (herders and farmers).
In the Sudanese government, power rests primarily with an elite Arab group based in the capital of Khartoum. Historically, regions outside of Khartoum, such as the South and Darfur, in the West, have been marginalized politically and economically. The country’s conflict stems from this exclusion.
In an effort to fight for their rights, African rebel groups in Darfur (made up predominantly of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit tribes) took up arms against the government in 2003. In response to this rebellion, the Sudanese government armed and coordinated "Janjaweed" militias to carry out systematic assaults against civilian populations of African tribes thought to be supportive of the rebellion.
Darfur is home to more than 30 ethnic groups, all of which are Muslim. The "Janjaweed" militias — recruited, armed, trained and supported by the Sudanese government — are drawn from several of the groups in Darfur that identify themselves as Arab.In 2004, the United States government publicly stated that genocide was occurring in Darfur based on the United Nations definition of the term.
In Article II of the United Nations (UN) Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the UN defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group
Causeing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
Diliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Forcibly transferring childern of the group to another group.
(Holocaust Museum Houston).
In the Sudanese government, power rests primarily with an elite Arab group based in the capital of Khartoum. Historically, regions outside of Khartoum, such as the South and Darfur, in the West, have been marginalized politically and economically. The country’s conflict stems from this exclusion.
In an effort to fight for their rights, African rebel groups in Darfur (made up predominantly of the Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit tribes) took up arms against the government in 2003. In response to this rebellion, the Sudanese government armed and coordinated "Janjaweed" militias to carry out systematic assaults against civilian populations of African tribes thought to be supportive of the rebellion.
Darfur is home to more than 30 ethnic groups, all of which are Muslim. The "Janjaweed" militias — recruited, armed, trained and supported by the Sudanese government — are drawn from several of the groups in Darfur that identify themselves as Arab.In 2004, the United States government publicly stated that genocide was occurring in Darfur based on the United Nations definition of the term.
In Article II of the United Nations (UN) Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the UN defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group
Causeing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.
Diliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
Forcibly transferring childern of the group to another group.
(Holocaust Museum Houston).