The Sudan Handbook

thE WaR in thE WEst 225

conflict, 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).