Courtesy of Save Darfur Coalition History of the Conflict Open
warfare erupted in Darfur in early 2003 when the two loosely
allied rebel groups, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLA)
and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), attacked military
installations. This was followed closely by peace agreements
brokered by the United States to end the twenty-year-old civil
war in the south of Sudan which allocated government positions
and oil revenue to the rebels in the south. At that time rebels
in Darfur, seeking an end to the region's chronic economic and
political marginalization, also took up arms to protect their
communities against a twenty-year campaign by government-backed
militias recruited among groups of Arab extraction in Darfur and
Chad. These "Janjaweed" militias have over the past year
received government support to clear civilians from areas
considered disloyal to the Sudanese government. Militia attacks
and a scorched-earth government offensive has led to massive
displacement, indiscriminate k