The Sudan Handbook

thE WaR in thE WEst 233

The Wars before the War

Between 1987 and 1989, an armed conflict pitted the Fur against Arab
groups in Darfur. The war united many Arab groups who had previ-
ously mostly fought against one another. Four hundred Fur villages were
burned, and 3,000 people were killed, mostly Fur. Then, in the 1990s,
the Abbala, the camel-owning Arabs, extended the war to the Masalit
and the Zaghawa.
Despite the fact that they were relatively poorly armed, Masalit tradi-
tional militias were initially able to gain the upper hand and chase a large
part of the Arabs from Dar Masalit. The Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa militias
became the basis for the rebel groups that appeared in 2003, just as, on
the other side, the Arab militias became for the most part government
auxiliary troops. The government convinced the Arabs that the rebels
were a danger to them; and non-Arab political leaders like Abdel Wahid
Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur attempted to transform grievances against the
nomadic Arabs into political grievances on a national level.
The war in Darfur is often seen by Darfuris as the result of multiple
previous conflicts. Everyone in Darfur, according to their ethnic origin,
where they are from, their history and their relationship with those in
power, has his own version of the origins of the conflict. Zaghawa, for
example, often mention a dispute with Arab pastoralists in 1968 over
a lake called Jinek that was an important stage in the nomadic route
to rainy season grazing grounds. It started with a quarrel over a gun
(something rare at this time) owned by Mahamat ‘Bired-el-Fasil’ (he who
loves division), a well-known Zaghawa militia leader and camel thief (it
was not uncommon to be both). The government solved the conflict by
imprisoning twelve Zaghawa and twelve Arabs for ten years, including
Bired-el-Fasil. Forty years later, he explained: ‘At that time, the govern-
ment was fair, whether we were Arab or Zaghawa, they treated us in the
same way, judged us in the same way. Not like today. I was freed after
five years, and I have not bought a rifle since. But the peace talks did not
really solve any problems. From then on, we and the Arabs started to
live like snakes and mice.’
The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors

(www.riftvalley.net).