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Darfur

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition

Darfur , region and former sultanate, W Sudan. The region is mountainous, dominated by the central massif of Jebel Marra, which rises to 10,130 ft (3,088 m). Much of the terrain is dry plateau, and there are sand dunes in the extreme north. The region is divided into the states of North, West, and South Darfur. The Fur (for whom the area is named) and the Baggara are the major ethnic groups. Darfur's economy is based on subsistence agriculture. Cattle, sheep, and goats are raised in the north.

The rulers of Cush , which fell c.AD 350, may have established a dynasty in Darfur. Christian kingdoms emerged in the period between 900 and 1200, but they were destroyed by Muslim incursions from Kanem in the mid-13th cent. Fur, a major kingdom probably founded in the 15th cent., pushed aside the Kanem rulers in the 17th cent. Fur was conquered by the Egyptians in 1874 and by the Mahdists (see Mahdi ) of Sudan in 1883. With the fall of the Mahdist state in 1898, Darfur became a semiautonomous sultanate under Anglo-Egyptian suzerainty. The sultan attempted to expel the foreign colonizers during World War I, but his forces were defeated by the British in 1916, and Darfur was incorporated into Sudan.

Since 2003 the region has been scene of fighting, with Sudanese government forces and their allied Arab militias (the janjaweed) battling non-Arab rebels linked to an opposition party, but the conflict has gradually widened to include fighting between allied groups on both sides, as both rebels and militias have splintered. Warfare also has spilled over into Chad, and Chadian rebels have based themselves in parts of Darfur. An estimated 50,000 persons have died in the fighting, and another 150,000 have died from disease, hunger, and other causes, and the government and janjaweed have been accused by some of genocide. Some 2.2 million people have been made refugees, and attempts to establish a cease-fire have produced only temporary results. An African Union (AU) peacekeeping force was established in the region beginning in Aug., 2004; the force, which officially became a joint UN-AU operation in Dec., 2007, has not been effective.

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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press