Janjaweed

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Janjaweed
جنجويد
LeaderMultiple leaders, including Musa Hilal and Hemedti
Dates of operation1987–present[1][2]
Active regions Sudan
 Chad
 Yemen
 Libya
StatusActive
SizeUnknown (less than 25,000 est.)
OpponentsNCP (The Islamic brotherhood party in Sudan)

The Janjaweed (

Baggara
.

Janjaweed

Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2020, in opposition to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebels.[9][10] In 2013, the Rapid Support Forces grew out of the Janjaweed.[11]

Etymology

The origin of the word Janjaweed is unclear. It may derive from the Arabic words

portmanteau of three words: جَن (jan) from English "gun"; jinn; and ʾajāwīd.[14]

History

War in Darfur
Combatants
Other articles
  • Bibliography

In Darfur, a western state in Sudan, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi supported the creation of the Tajammu al-Arabi (Arab Gathering) militia, which was described by Gérard Prunier as "a militantly racist and pan-Arabist organization which stressed the 'Arab' character of the province".[15]: 45  The Arab Gathering shared members and a source of support with the Islamic Legion, and the distinction between the two is often ambiguous.[citation needed]

The nearly continuous cross-border raids contributed to a separate ethnic conflict within Darfur that killed about 9,000 people between 1985 and 1988.[15]: 61–65  The Janjaweed leadership has some background in Gaddafi's mercenary forces.[16][17]

The Janjaweed first appeared in 1988 after

Sheikh Musa Hilal, the newly elevated chief of the Rizeigat Arab tribes of north Darfur.[citation needed] Hilal's tribesmen had earlier smuggled Libyan weapons to Ibn-Oumar's forces.[citation needed] A French-Chadian incursion destroyed Ibn-Oumar's camp, but his weapons remained with his Mahamid hosts.[citation needed
]

Throughout the 1990s, the Janjaweed were Arab partisans who pursued a local agenda of controlling land, and were tolerated by the Sudan Government. The majority of Darfur’s Arabs, the Baggara, became involved in the war over grazing territory.[18][page needed] In 1999–2000, faced with threats of insurgency in Western and Northern Darfur, Khartoum’s security armed the Janjaweed forces.[citation needed]

Janjaweed are omnipresent. They are seen in marketplaces and within walking distance of refugee camps.

As the insurgency escalated in February 2003, spearheaded by the

Border Guards. Meanwhile, the Janjaweed expanded to include some Arab tribes in eastern Darfur who were not historically associated with the original Janjaweed. A political base was also reestablished in Chad as part of the United Front for Democratic Change (FUC) coalition.[3][19]

By October 2007, only the United States government had declared the Janjaweed killings in Darfur to be

UN Security Council called for the Janjaweed to be disarmed.[citation needed] On 14 July 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.[22]

In 2013, the

Blue Nile.[11]

Armed Janjaweed walk freely through the marketplace in Geneina

2023 rebellion

Main article:
2023 Sudan conflict

In 2023, international diplomats insisted that the RSF merge into the

Sudanese transition to democracy.[23] By April 2023, power struggles developed between Sudan's de facto national leader, army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the leader of the RSF, Hemedti. On 15 April 2023, clashes between RSF and army forces erupted across the country.[23][24] By the second day of the conflict, 78 people had been reported killed. Among the dead were three World Food Programme (WFP) workers, triggering the organization to suspend its work in Sudan, where it had been a principal force in alleviating hunger. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres demanded immediate justice for the killings and called for an end to the conflict.[23][24][needs update
]

Diplomats from the African Union and Saudi Arabia mediated a three-hour humanitarian ceasefire to permit the evacuation of the injured. Despite this, the battles continued, as both sides claimed to have seized control of key sites in and around the capital city.[23][24][needs update]

References

  1. ^ "On the run from Sudan's Arab militias - again". BBC News. 2 May 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  2. ^ "Sudan's Janjaweed Militia". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Dahir, Abdinoor Hasan. "Soldiers of Fortune: The Evolving Role of Sudanese Militias in Libya" (PDF). /researchcentre.trtworld.com. TRT WORLD research centre. Retrieved 22 September 2023. In 2006, the Janjaweed militia was absorbed into the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Border Guards. Khartoum appointed Musa Hilal, the commander of the militia, as the head of the Border Guards.
  4. ^ Etefa, Tsega (18 June 2019). ""Explainer: tracing the history of Sudan's Janjaweed militia"". theconversation.com. The Conversation Media Group Ltd. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  5. ^ "Sudan". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Janjaweed". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 27 April 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  7. ^ "UN Warns Chad Violence Could Replicate Rwanda Genocide". Christian Today. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  8. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (28 December 2018). "On the Front Line of the Saudi War in Yemen: Child Soldiers From Darfur". New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023.
  9. ^ Nabati, Mikael (August 2004). "The U.N. Responds to the Crisis in Darfur: Security Council Resolution 1556". American Society of International Law. Archived from the original on 13 March 2007.
  10. ^ "Sudan signs peace deal with rebel groups from Darfur". Al Jazeera. 31 August 2020. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Who are Sudan's RSF and their commander Hemeti?". Al Jazeera English. 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  12. ^ "Darfur Genocide". World Without Genocide. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  13. ISSN 0017-789X. Archived from the original
    on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  14. ^ Murad, Mahmoud (17 July 2007). "Arabs and Africans". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  15. ^
    OL 17215144M
    .
  16. ^ de Waal, Alex (5 August 2004). "Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap". London Review of Books. 26 (15).
  17. ^ "Terrorism and Violence in the Sudan: The Islamist Manipulation of Darfur". Jamestown. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
  18. OL 8004494M
    .
  19. ^ Suleiman, Mahmoud A. (17 September 2018). "Sudanese have become prey of mercenaries and Janjawid militias". sudantribune.com. Sudan Tribune. Retrieved 22 September 2023. The Janjaweed established their presence on the Sudanese political scene very quickly. They are associated with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), fighting alongside them in the Sudanese states of the Blue Nile and South Kordofan, as well as in the Darfur region.
  20. ^ "Sudan Genocide Declaration Stirs World". PBS. 15 September 2004. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  21. ^ Kessler, Glenn; Lynch, Colum (10 September 2004). "U.S. Calls Killings In Sudan Genocide". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006.
  22. ^ Corder, Mike (14 July 2008). "Sudan president charged with genocide in Darfur". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 18 July 2008.
  23. ^ a b c d El-Bawab, Nadine (15 April 2023). "Clashes erupt in Sudan between army, paramilitary group over government transition". ABC News. Archived from the original on 16 April 2023.
  24. ^ a b c "Fighting continues in Sudan despite humanitarian pause". France24. 16 April 2023. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023.

External links

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