Darfur Cries for a New Dawn

An Arabic colloquialism, “A man with a gun on a horse, to some of us, hearing that can mean, “a knight in shinning armor”, but in this faraway, vast region, situated on the west side of Sudan, Africa’s largest country, the people of Darfur knows that “A man on a horse” means that they should take cover; the Janjaweed Militias who prey upon them like plague, raping their women, killing their men and children and burning their villages, are coming.

Darfur is Sudan’s largest region, on it’s western border with Libya, Chad, and Central Africa. Darfur is Arabic, for “home of the Fur”. They are black Africans, originated from western Sudan who inhabited the region of Darfur. Since 1994, Darfur has been divided into three federal sates within Sudan. Gharb Darfur (West Darfur), Janub Darfur (South Darfur), and Shamal Darfur (North Darfur).

The predominant ethnic groups of West Darfur are the Massalit, Fur and Zaghawa.

The region of Darfur covers an area of 196,555 miles (493,180 km), over

two thirds the size of France, half the size of Kenya or the size of Texas. It constitutes an estimated population of 7.4 million people, of which, the majority are black Africans and some Arabs. The Darfurians are made up of 43% black African Muslims, 14% Arabic Muslims, 5-10 % Christians and 33% Islamics.

Darfur’s four main physical geographic features are its’ sandy soils know as “goz”. In some places the goz is waterless and can only be inhabited where there are water reservoirs or wells. Even while dry, goz still supports rich pastures and a wide range of farmlands. Its’ second feature are the wadis. They are valleys of a stream, many of them contains pans of alluvium with rich soil that are also hard to cultivate. The small wadis flood occasionally during the wet season, while the large wadis flood during most of the rainfalls, and flow from western Darfur hundreds of miles to Lake Chad. The third feature, dominates the west of Darfur, basement rock, sometimes covered with a thin layer of sandy soil. Basement rock is too infertile to be farmed, but it provides sporadic forest cover that can be grazed by animals. The Marrah Mountains, the fourth feature of Darfur, volcanic plugs created by mountain mass that rises up to a peak at Deriba crater where there is a small area of temperate climate, high rainfall and permanent springs of water.

During the rainy season, June through to September, the region is transformed from dusty brown to lush green. The rains are vital to Darfur as agriculture plays a major roll in their economy. Darfur’s economy is primarily based on subsistence agriculture, producing cereal, millet wheat, fruits, and tobacco. In the drier north livestock is produced. Under normal circumstances, millet, a chief crop is usually ready to be harvested by November. After being harvested, the dry stalk is fed to domestic livestock. Cattle, sheep and goats are raised in the north.