ACTS OF VIOLENCE

From: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Sudanese government led by Omer al- Bashir and the National Islamist Front (NIF) has governed over war in the south and west. The conflicts produced several peaks of violence against civilians: militia raids into Bahr al Ghazal, 1986-89; the Nuba Mountains jihad of 1992; the oilfields clearances of the late 1990s; and genocide in Darfur 2003 – 2005.

In the south, the primary victims were the Dinka and Nuer peoples and the Nuba in central Sudan. Fighting in 1991-92 between factions of the SPLA also caused significant civilian losses and displacement. In Darfur, the primary victims were the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit.

In both the south and west, the Sudanese government established a pattern of assaults against civilians, killing, torturing, raping and displacing millions. Additionally, its forces have destroyed entire villages, food and water supplies, and other non-military targets. It has used a divide-to-destroy strategy that pits ethnic groups against each other, while arming and supporting local militias.

In the South, the government tolerated the taking of slaves, along with other booty, by Arab tribal militias that raided villages in the south and the Nuba Mountains. It also used religion to spur violence, justifying the persecution of and attacks against Christians, followers of indigenous religions, and Muslims who rejected the government's extreme form of Islam. In Darfur, it has used ethnicity to increase and justify violence.

The Sudanese government used starvation as a weapon. It attacked civilian food production and supplies, then obstructed international relief. This strategy decimated the Nuba people of central Sudan. In 1998, the government and its proxies were the primary agents of a famine in southern Sudan, which endangered millions and killed tens of thousands, mostly Dinka. The consequences of the government's actions were, however, worsened by food diversion by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and some local chiefs. In Darfur, the government’s forced displacement and obstruction of aid resulted in the deaths of at least 200,000 people between 2003-2005. The government has also obstructed aid to vulnerable populations in response to international pressures.

Targeted civilian populations have been forcibly displaced by the government throughout the country. In the south, this practice accelerated when oil was discovered under key contested areas. In Darfur, at least 2.5 million people remain displaced and vulnerable to further government manipulations. Reliant on inadequate supplies of international aid, this displaced population is unable to return home because of on-going conflict.