Social Science Research Council

In this post, Julie Flint reports on the Sudan government’s ongoing onslaught on Arab leaders in Darfur who are in rebellion against Khartoum.

Towards the end of the Abuja talks, an Arab intellectual sympathetic to the Darfur rebels remarked: ‘Ninety percent of the Arabs of Darfur are neutral so far. We cannot continue like this if there if no agreement. We may take a role.’ Eighteen months later they are, slowly but surely, in many ways. In recent weeks the Sudan government has begun responding with predictable force-aerial bombardment, ground attack, arrests of family members. This entry details the current fierce conflict between the Sudan government and two Arab groups–the Sudan Revolutionary Forces led by a young principled Arab leader, Anwar Adam Khater, and a Janjawiid militia force under the command of Mohamed Hamdan Hemeti, which switched sides recently.

In an act infused with symbolism, the African Union decided to create a memorial museum to the victims of genocide and grave human rights abuses at the former Ethiopian central prison, site of incalculable human suffering, at the very center of its expanded compound. This resolution was passed on the tenth anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Three years later, the African Union has failed to act upon its solemn commitment to memorialize the millions of victims of the Rwanda genocide, the Ethiopian Red Terror, and other killings. A few months ago, the prison building was unceremoniously demolished to make way for a Chinese-financed conference center.

Overview
1. The crisis in the CPA unfolded with a speed that was both unexpected and alarming. At the time of writing, the SPLM and NCP have patched up their differences. But the repercussions of the crisis will continue in Sudanese politics for some time.
2. The crisis has revealed and accelerated underlying political trends. The major dimensions [...]

A Tribute to AMIS
By Abdul Mohammed

At the end of this month, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) hands over to the "hybrid" United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). This marks the end of the African Union’s biggest, most challenging and some say controversial and indeed most ambitious peace observation [...]

Munzoul Assal and a small group of Sudanese collaborators have compiled the most extensive bibliography of social science research on Darfur available to date. An Annotated Bibliography of Social Research on Darfur is the outcome of cooperation between the University of Bergen and the researchers at the University of Khartoum. This is an essential resource [...]

This last week I was in Kutum—the first time I have spent more than a day in the north Darfur town since November-December 1985. It was fascinating to be back in the district after a gap of 22 years. The physical landscape is unchanged. The gardens of Wadi Kutum are as beautiful as ever, almost [...]

This week’s issue of New York magazine gives a shout-out to a next week’s Frontline program, “On Our Watch.” Alex de Waal is one of the people they interview, along with James Traub and Samantha Power.

Six months ago, John Prendergast and I debated the response to Darfur at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This week we continued the debate online, courtesy of Newsweek. It’s a lively exchange and after just two rounds, Newsweek’s deadline was upon us so the editor called time. I would have liked to say more—so I am posting my response to him here.

It goes without saying that Sudanese scholars are the true experts on Darfur’s crisis. The short book edited by Abdel Ghaffar Mohammed Ahmed and Leif Manger, Understanding the Crisis in Darfur: Listening to Sudanese Voices, is an essential resource for those wishing to understand how Sudanese see the conflict and the possible resolution to it.

This posting is a guide to three online sources of scholarly material on Darfur (and Sudan in general) that provide different resources for the student or professor. The most comprehensive online resource on Sudan is the Rift Valley Institute’s Sudan Open Archive. The Center for African Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, hosts UnderstandingSudan.org, which is a resource specifically geared for teachers planning classes on Sudan including Darfur. Prof. R.S. O’Fahey, the premier historian of Darfur, has a website dedicated to his research in Darfur.