Darfur

Darfur is a region of western Sudan covering 493,180 square kilometers (190,420 sq mi). It consists largely of a semi-desert plateau, with the volcanic Marrah Mountains in its center, and is divided into five federal states: Central, East, North, South, and West Darfur. The Daju people established the first historically attested kingdom in Darfur by the 12th century and were succeeded by the Tunjur people in the 14th century. The Sultanate of Darfur later became a major power in the Sahel under the Keira dynasty. The sultanate was brought under Egyptian rule in 1873–74. After the defeat of the Mahdist State in 1899, Ali Dinar ruled Darfur as sultan until Anglo-Egyptian forces invaded and annexed the region in 1916. After Sudan became independent in 1956, uneven economic development continued, while regional conflicts contributed to political instability. The War in Darfur began in 2003 between rebel movements and Sudanese government forces and allied Janjaweed militias. The conflict became a major humanitarian crisis, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and displacing millions of people, and the mass killing has been characterized as the Darfur genocide. Peace agreements were signed in 2006, 2011, and 2020, but violence continued. Since the start of the Sudanese civil war in 2023, there has been considerable fighting in Darfur. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have perpetrated the Masalit and El Fasher massacres, and some analysts have described the violence as a genocide.