Abstract Three 2005-2006

GLOBAL

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Volume Four Winter 2005-Spring 2006 Numbers 1-2.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

STRATEGIES FOR A DEESCALATION OF VIOLENCE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

Fouad Ibrahim

University of Bayreuth

   Hans-Holbein-Str. 49 A
   D-31515 Wunstorf
   Germany

Published online: February 10, 2017

ABSTRACT

Since February 2003, which marked the beginning of the civil war in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, Arab militias supported by the troops of the central Sudanese government have been murdering the civilian population in Darfur. So far there are more than two million displaced persons in the region, and the number of those who died ranges between 180,000 and 300,000. Innocent men, women and children became victims of brutal violence when their villages were plundered and scorched down to earth overnight. In January 2005, a high-level United Nations panel accused the central government of the Sudan and allied militias of committing atrocities in Darfur – but not genocide, as the United States had claimed repeatedly. The United Nations Security Council referred the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague. The U.S. abstained from voting against the resolution for fear of its own soldiers being dragged to the same court on the issue of human rights violations in Iraq, but allowed the resolution to be passed. This article examines current strategies for reducing the violence in Darfur, Sudan and makes some recommendation for resolving the conflict.