thE WaR in thE WEst 225conflict, non-Arab groups did not refer to themselves as ‘indigenous’ or
‘African’ in the way they do today, drawing a line between themselves
and the Arabs that, in reality, has always been fluid.
Coverage of Darfur in Western media and in the publications of activ-
ists working to bring attention to the war, though it may have brought
world attention to the problems of Darfur, has rarely shown prudence
when identifying – and naming – those involved in the conflict. Thus we
read of ‘black’, ‘African’ victims and ‘Arab’ perpetrators, a Manichaean
vision that only acts to worsen the unprecedented split that the war has
produced between the groups claiming to have an ‘Arab’ identity and
the rest – the Fur, the Zaghawa and the Masalit, and a dozen or more
smaller groups.
But it is not only the Western media which deals in ethnic categor ies.
All sides in the war have seized on ethnic difference as a source of
support. Despite the inclusive rhetoric of Abdallah Idris’ song, the rebel
movements in Darfur recruit primarily amongst non-Arab groups. They
denounce the monopoly of power in Khartoum since the independence
of Sudan by elites drawn from the three main Arab (or ‘Arabized’)
tribes of the central Nile Valley, but probably represent less than five
per cent of the Sudanese population. For Darfurians the government in
Khartoum appears to be dominated by these groups, all from outside
their region: the Jaaliyin (in the person, notably, of the President, Omar
Hassan al-Bashir), the Shaigiya (Vice-president Ali Osman Mohamed
Taha) and the Danagla (the former Defense Minister Bakri Hassan
Saleh). In return, the regime has invoked Arab solidarity to recruit allies
in Darfur, creating proxy forces known as ‘janjawid’, a Darfuri term
previously used for armed bandits. Beginning in 2003, after the first
rebel victories the janjawid were given carte blanche to attack non-Arab
communities accused of supporting the rebellion. The government’s
policy of ethnic mobilization helps explain the polarizing description
of the conflict as a massacre of ‘African’, ‘black’, or even ‘ indigenous’
civilians by Arab government forces, even though there are Arabs and
non-Arabs on both sides.The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors Some non-Arab groups (like the Gimir, the Tama, the Fellata) have
(www.riftvalley.net).