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1. Halting Genocide in Sudan

Author:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide
Publication Date:
01-2025
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
In January 2025, the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide published a report, “History is repeating itself in Darfur in the Worst Possible Way”: Halting Genocide in Sudan (PDF). This report focuses particularly on ethnically targeted mass atrocities in Darfur committed since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan in April 2023. It also assesses future risks, particularly as the rise in identity-based targeting by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces increases the risk of further mass atrocities. On January 7, 2025, the United States Department of State determined that genocide is being perpetrated in Darfur by members of the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, and their allied militias. This determination is a somber acknowledgment of the horrific crimes endured by communities who experienced genocide 20 years ago and have been neglected for too long. This genocide is ongoing. Civilian protection must be an urgent priority for the US government and the international community. This report offers policy options for the US and other governments—acting individually and as part of regional and international bodies—to halt mass atrocities, bolster accountability mechanisms and local documentation efforts, and protect civilians from harm. These actions should include increased pressure on states that provide financial support to the RSF, securing pathways for humanitarian aid, and prioritizing civilian protection, including by supporting locally-led prevention and protection efforts.
Topic:
Genocide, Armed Forces, Atrocities, Armed Conflict, and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

2. "The Dead Became Uncountable": Mass Atrocities in Sudan

Author:
Danica Damplo
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Abstract:
On April 15th, 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), headed by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti). The conflict has killed more than 13,000 people and displaced more than 7.3 million people.1 The RSF and its allied militias reignited a campaign of widespread, systematic, and ethnically-motivated violence in the region of Darfur, targeting non-Arab communities. Efforts by the United States (US) and others have failed to secure a durable ceasefire or to protect a new generation in Darfur from the risk of genocide. The conflict that began in April is a continuation of the cycles of violence that have persisted in Sudan for decades, including a period of mass atrocities in 2003-2005 in Darfur, for which former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).2 The SAF and RSF had previously joined forces in 2019 to oust al-Bashir following widespread protests in which the Sudanese people called for transitional justice and a transition to democracy. However, in 2021, the SAF and RSF overthrew the transitional government that had replaced al-Bashir. In April 2023, disagreements between al-Burhan and Hemedti exploded into open warfare.3 While earlier conflicts had spared Sudan’s capital, since April civilians in Khartoum and nearby Omdurman have endured violent clashes, aerial bombardment, sexual violence, and a humanitarian crisis. The conflict spread, with the RSF seeking to control the Darfur region and branching out from the west, and the SAF based out of the city of Port Sudan in the east. The RSF is supplied by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), while the SAF is supported by Egypt.4 In June 2023, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum sounded the alarm about the dire risk of genocide in Darfur.5 That risk remains high today. None of the conditions referenced in this warning have improved since June, and the numbers of civilians killed or harmed has risen dramatically. Among the communities at greatest risk today are those who survived genocide twenty years ago and who have continued to suffer since. This brief will detail mass atrocities underway in Sudan, highlight present and future risks not only in Darfur but elsewhere, and offer policy options for an effective response.
Topic:
Civil War, Armed Conflict, Atrocity Prevention, Protection, and Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

3. Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding: Addressing the Root Causes of Conflict in Darfur

Author:
Zurab Elzarov
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
The relationship between climate change and deadly conflict is complex and context-specific, but it is undeniable that climate change is a threat multiplier that is already increasing food insecurity, water scarcity and resource competition, while disrupting livelihoods and spurring migration. In turn, deadly conflict and political instability are contributing to climate change.[2] Darfur captured international headlines in 2004 when United States (US) Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that genocide was occurring in Sudan in his testimony to the US Senate.[3] The early-2000s conflict in Darfur between rebel groups on one side and government forces and allied militias on the other caused an estimated 300 000 deaths, and about 2.5 million people live in displacement camps across Darfur.[4] Most observers agree that the immediate cause was a regional rebellion, to which Khartoum responded by recruiting Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to wage a campaign of ethnic cleansing against African civilians.[5] They also argue that the three core drivers of violence in Darfur at present are disputes over land and resources, the complex network of militias and paramilitary forces, and the weakness of the rule of law and security institutions.[6] Eighteen years after the eruption of the conflict in Darfur, these conclusions regarding the main causes and triggers of the conflict remain valid. In 2021, despite the signed Juba Peace Agreement, the security situation in Darfur remained volatile, with significant inter-communal violence and fighting between government forces and rebels in the Jebel Marra area. The instability in the region continues to cause large-scale displacement, with more than 200 000 people displaced in Darfur since the beginning of 2021.
Topic:
Environment, Conflict, and Peacebuilding
Political Geography:
Africa and Darfur

4. Transforming Livelihood Systems: Meeting needs in a changing world

Author:
Merry Fitzpatrick, Hassan Alattar Satti, and Manal Hamid Ahmed
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Abstract:
This is the second in a series of learning briefs under the Taadoud II: Transition to Development project, a collaboration led by Catholic Relief Services. The collaboration includes Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), World Vision, and Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. The project is funded by UK Aid. The learning brief series aims to promote awareness and understanding of natural resource use and management in Darfur to support the Taadoud II program and wider programs and policies to effectively build resilient livelihoods. Livelihood strategies are the way people support themselves. People change their strategies as their opportunities, risks, and limitations change. A change in a household’s strategies can affect members of the household differently. Often changes that benefit a household as a whole increase women’s risk and labor burdens. Furthermore, when nearly all livelihood strategies depend on natural resources, changes to the strategies will change demands on natural resources. How one set of households changes the way they use natural resources will affect other households who also depend on those same resources. This could cause conflict over those resources and deplete them.
Topic:
Agriculture, Climate Change, Natural Resources, Food, Food Security, and Livelihoods
Political Geography:
Africa and Darfur

5. The Role of Community-Based Natural Resource Management Mechanisms in Sustainable Livelihoods in North Darfur

Author:
Abubakr Mohamed JUma Siam, Ibrahim Ali Elnour, Somia Ibrahim Ambaddi, and Leila Omer Adam
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Feinstein International Center, Tufts University
Abstract:
Researchers from the University of Al Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan conducted this study to identify the ways in which access to and use of natural resources in North Darfur is effectively regulated through community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) mechanisms and what impact these mechanisms have on people’s livelihoods. The study revealed that there are CBNRM committees in the majority of the studied communities. Their crucial strength is the nomination of committee members by the community themselves. Thus, their legitimacy comes from the community which provides the power to work and succeed in various fields of natural resource access and livelihood systems. The study discusses key findings related to the role that CBNRM committees play (and do not play) in regulating livelihoods and ecosystems. The data were collected from three localities: El Fashir, Daresalam and Kalemindo. Seventeen villages/communities/government officials where the Taadoud II program operates were selected for the study. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Taadoud II Project’s inter-university partnership between the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University; the University of Al Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan; and the University of Zalingei in Central Darfur, Sudan.
Topic:
Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, Community, and Resource Management
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

6. Protection through Policing: The Protective Role of UN Police in Peace Operations

Author:
Charles T. Hunt
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
Since first deployed in 1960, United Nations police (UNPOL) have consistently been present in UN missions and have become increasingly important to achieving mission objectives. Since 1999, these objectives have often included the protection of civilians (POC), especially in places like the Central African Republic, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, and South Sudan. But despite its rise in prominence, the protective role of UNPOL is generally undervalued and regularly overlooked, and missions have tended to overly rely on militarized approaches to POC. This report examines the roles and responsibilities of UNPOL regarding POC. It outlines UNPOL’s contributions to POC and perceived comparative advantages, using examples of their role as compeller, deterrent, partner, and enabler. It also identifies and draws lessons from challenges to police protection efforts, including ambiguous mandates, policies, and guidance; poor coordination; problematic partnerships; and deficits in capabilities, capacities, and tools. Drawing on these lessons from past and current deployments, the report proposes recommendations for how member states, the Security Council, the UN Secretariat, and field missions can improve UNPOL’s efforts to protect civilians going forward. These recommendations include: Clarifying the role of UN police in POC through mandates, policies, guidance, and training to align the expectations of UN peace operations, the Secretariat, and member states for what UNPOL are expected to do; Involving all UN police in POC and giving them a voice in decision making and planning to infuse whole-of-mission POC efforts with policing perspectives and empower UNPOL to act more readily; Enhancing partnerships between UN police, host states, and other mission components to enable more responsive, better coordinated, and more comprehensive approaches to POC; and Providing more appropriate and more flexible capabilities, capacities, and tools to address critical capabilities gaps and adapt existing resources to better meet UNPOL’s latent potential for POC.
Topic:
Security, United Nations, Peacekeeping, Reform, Rule of Law, Civilians, and Police
Political Geography:
Africa, Darfur, Mali, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Congo

7. Diaspora in Despair: Darfurian Mobility at a Time of International Disengagement

Author:
Jérôme Tubiana, Clotilde Warin, and Mahamat Saleh Mangare
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Small Arms Survey
Abstract:
Darfur’s fade-out from international headlines and Western interests over the past several years has fostered a false narrative that the conflict there is over, despite stark evidence to the contrary. Linked to this narrative, the paralysis of internal and international engagement on Darfur has compelled Darfurians—civilians and combatants alike—to increase their outward mobility in search of safety and livelihood opportunities in neighbouring African countries or further afield into Europe. Diaspora in Despair: Darfurian Mobility at a Time of International Disengagement, a new joint report from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) and Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) projects analyzes several components and consequences of this increased mobility. The report finds that highly mobile Darfurian rebel groups have found fertile ground for lucrative activities such as cross-border smuggling in neighbouring countries—particularly Libya. The study also notes that the harsh conditions encountered in Libya by non-Arab Darfurian civilians have compelled many to seek asylum across the Mediterranean in Europe.
Topic:
Conflict, Smuggling, and Disengagement
Political Geography:
Africa, Darfur, and Libya

8. The Accountability System for the Protection of Civilians in UN Peacekeeping

Author:
Namie Di Razza
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
International Peace Institute (IPI)
Abstract:
Over the last two decades, UN peacekeeping operations have striven to protect civilians from physical violence. The protection of civilians (POC) is now based on a clear normative and policy framework, and its practical implementation relies on a number of innovative tools, tailored and multidimensional approaches, and the more proactive posture of peacekeepers. On a number of occasions, however, UN missions have failed to prevent or respond to threats despite being aware of the risk, receiving adequate warning of an attack, or being in the proximity when abuses were committed. Numerous reports and investigations into these incidents have highlighted shortcomings in performance and called for more accountability. Despite institutional ambitions, however, there is still limited accountability for the actors involved in protecting civilians. To help address this challenge, IPI undertook a project to map how existing accountability mechanisms in the UN could be applied to peacekeeping missions with POC mandates. Through a combination of desk research and key informant interviews, IPI developed a set of tools to help guide the UN and its member states in building a robust, multi-actor, multilayer “system of accountability for POC.”
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, Accountability, and Civilians
Political Geography:
Africa, Darfur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Central African Republic, and Global Focus

9. Protecting the Environment and Women in Darfur through Fuel-Efficient Stoves

Author:
Zurab Elzarov
Publication Date:
02-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
The protracted conflict since 2003 in Darfur, Sudan, has resulted in massive loss of human lives and assets, disrupted livelihoods and led to severe food insecurity in some areas. Some 1.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are registered as living in camps. For unregistered IDPs – that is, displaced people living in rural settlements and urban areas – estimates vary considerably, especially as there is no systematic registration of displacement outside of camps.1 IDPs and their host communities have limited livelihood options and often rely on unsustainable coping strategies, such as unmanaged cutting of trees and shrubs for fuelwood and charcoal production. This places an additional burden on Darfur’s fragile ecosystem and related livelihoods.2
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Fossil Fuels
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and Darfur

10. Peace Operations Review 2019

Author:
Alexandra Novosseloff, Marc Jacquand, and Paige Arthur
Publication Date:
12-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
Peace Operations Review 2019 takes stock of recent trends in peace operations. With articles from Alexandra Novosseloff, Marc Jacquand, and Paige Arthur, the review: Summarizes five key trends in peace operations, touching on the issues of UN reform, the role of the Security Council, transitions, an enhanced "spectrum" of peace operations, and resources vs. mandates. Examines UNAMID's innovative approaches to the forthcoming transition in Darfur. Surveys the current state of affairs of protection of civilians mandates, with proposals for greater focus on risk management.
Topic:
United Nations, Peacekeeping, and Peace
Political Geography:
Africa, Darfur, and Global Focus