Khartoum: Roots of Conflict

Category: Genocide

The Conflict in Darfur can be simplified into one between Arabs and Africans but that would be an unfair simplification of the conflict’s roots. The conflict has much to do with the manner that the Egyptians and British employed in governing the Sudan, giving preferences to the urban center of Khartoum and the Nile Valley over the more desolate, periphery regions such as Darfur. The situation was further exacerbated by the catastrophic famine of 1983 and 1984 (The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon famously suggested that the conflict was caused at least “in part by climate change) The famine coincided- ironically enough- with great population growth which could not be controlled by the economy. These all led to the solidification of tensions between Rebel Groups and the central government which eventually exploded into Conflict.