08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

The Darfur conflict: An Overview ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46041],  [ID 12736]

"The conflict in Darfur has roots in both government neglect of the region and ethnic tensions between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary farming communities, exacerbated by scarce resources and the government's support of the nomad militias. The government and Arab militia forces destroyed a large number of villages of African tribes, and there were tens of thousands of deaths. At year's end there were more than 1.8 million IDPs in Darfur, and another 210 thousand civilians had fled into Chad, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) coordinated a massive refugee relief effort. More than 70 thousand persons died as a result of the violence and forced displacement; the ongoing conflict in Darfur contributed to widely divergent estimates of how many persons may have been killed. The government continued to support the largely Arab nomad janjaweed militia, which terrorized and killed civilians, raped women, and burned and pillaged the region."

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