Sudan: The Crisis in Darfur and Status of the North-South Peace Agreement

Abstract

Sudan, geographically the largest country in Africa, has been ravaged by civil war intermittently for four decades. More than 2 million people have died in Southern Sudan over the past two decades due to war-related causes and famine, and millions have been displaced from their homes. The crisis in Darfur began in February 2003, when two rebel groups emerged to challenge the National Congress Party (NCP) government in Darfur. The crisis in Darfur in western Sudan has led to a major humanitarian disaster, with an estimated 2.45 million people displaced, more than 240,000 people forced into neighboring Chad, and an estimated 450,000 people killed. In July 2004, the House and Senate declared the atrocities in Darfur genocide, and the Bush Administration reached the same conclusion in September 2004. On May 4, 2006, the Government of National Unity and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) after almost two years of negotiations. In July 2007, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1769, authorizing the deployment of a robust peacekeeping force to Darfur. The resolution calls for the deployment of 26,000 peacekeeping troops to Darfur. The resolution authorized the United Nations African Union force in Darfur (UNAMID) to take all necessary measures to protect its personnel and humanitarian workers. As of March 2009, UNAMID deployed a total of 15,351 peacekeeping personnel. In July 2008, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accused President Omar Bashir of Sudan of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes and asked ICC judges to issue an arrest warrant for President Bashir. On March 4, 2009, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber issued a warrant of arrest for President Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 12, 2009
Accession Number
ADA501192

Entities

People

  • Ted Dagne

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Civil War
  • Congress
  • Department Of State
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Negotiations
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Terrorists
  • United States
  • United States Government

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • International Relations and Conflict Resolution