Janjaweed

The Janjaweed (Arabic: جنجويد, romanized: Janjawīd; also transliterated Janjawid[2]) are a Sudanese Arab militia group[3] that operates in Sudan, particularly in Darfur, and eastern Chad.[4] They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen.[5] Using the United Nations definition, the Janjaweed comprise Sudanese Arab tribes, the core of whom are from the Abbala (camel herder) background with significant recruitment from the Baggara (cattle herder) people. This UN definition may not necessarily be accurate, as instances of members from other tribes have been noted.

Janjaweed
جنجويد
LeaderMohamed Hamdan Dagalo
Dates of operation1987–present[1]
Active regions Sudan
 Chad
 Yemen
 Libya
IdeologyIslamism
Pan-Arabism
StatusActive
SizeUnknown (less than 25,000 est.)
OpponentsSudan People's Armed Forces
Sudanese Police

The Janjaweed and their nomadic tribes were initially at odds with Darfur's sedentary population over natural grazing grounds and farmland, as rainfall dwindled and water became scarce. They were then a major player in the Darfur conflict from 2003 to 2020, in opposition to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebels.[6][7] In 2013 the Rapid Support Forces grew out of the Janjaweed.[8]

Etymology

The origin of the word Janjaweed is unclear. It has been translated into English as "devils on horseback" [9] from the Arabic words جن jinn "jinn, demon" and أَجَاوِيد ʾajāwīd "horses". Other sources suggest its origin comes from the Persian word جنگوی jangavi, meaning "warrior",[10] or a portmanteau of three words: جَن jan, after English "gun"; jinn; and ʾajāwīd.[11]

History
War in Darfur
Combatants
Other articles
A mounted Janjaweed militiaman

In Darfur, a western province of Sudan, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi supported the creation of the Arab Gathering (Tajammu al-Arabi) of the Islamic Legion, which according to Gérard Prunier was "a militantly racist and pan-Arabist organization which stressed the 'Arab' character of the province."[12] The two organizations shared members and a source of support, and the distinction between the two is often ambiguous.

The nearly continuous cross-border raids that resulted greatly contributed to a separate ethnic conflict within Darfur that killed about 9,000 people between 1985 and 1988.[13] The Janjaweed leadership has some background in Gaddafi's mercenary forces.[14][15]

The Janjaweed first appeared in 1988 after Chadian President Hissène Habré, backed by France and the United States, defeated the Libyan army, thereby ending Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi’s territorial designs on Chad. Gaddafi’s Chadian protégé, Acheikh Ibn-Oumar, retreated with his partisan forces to Darfur, where they were hosted by Sheikh Musa Hilal, the newly elevated chief of the Rizeigat Arab tribes of north Darfur. Hilal’s tribesmen had earlier smuggled Libyan weapons to Ibn-Omer’s forces. A French-Chadian incursion destroyed Ibn-Omer’s camp, but his weapons remained with his Mahamid hosts.

Throughout the 1990s, the Janjaweed were Arab partisans, tolerated by the Sudan Government, who pursued local agendas of controlling land. The majority of Darfur’s Arabs, the Baggara confederation, began their presence in the war over grazing territory, and remain involved.[16] In 1999-2000, faced with threats of insurgencies in Western and Northern Darfur, Khartoum’s security armed the Janjaweed forces.

Janjaweed are omnipresent. They are seen in marketplaces and within walking distance of refugee camps.

When the insurgency escalated in February 2003, spearheaded by the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, and the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudanese government responded by using the Janjaweed as its main counter-insurgency force. Protracting the forces to attack and recover the rebel held areas of Darfur, the Janjaweed conducted a campaign targeting rebels in the region of Darfur. The U.S. State Department and others in 2004 named leading Janjaweed commanders, including Musa Hilal, as genocide supects. By early 2006, many Janjaweed had been absorbed into the Sudan Armed Forces including the Popular Defense Forces and Border Guards. Meanwhile, the Janjaweed expanded to include some Arab tribes in eastern Darfur, not historically associated with the original Janjaweed. Chadian Arabs were also increasingly active in seeking to reestablish a political base in Chad, as part of the Unified Forces for a Democratic Change (FUC) coalition.

By October 2007, only the United States' government had declared the Janjaweed killings in Darfur to be genocide, since they had killed an estimated 200,000-400,000 civilians over the previous three years.[17][18] The UN Security Council called for the Janjaweed to be disarmed. On July 14, 2008, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation using the Janjaweed tribes.[19]

Restructuring

The Rapid Support Forces were formed from the Janjaweed to fight against rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile states.[8]

Armed Janjaweed walk freely through the marketplace in Geneina

2023 Rebellion
Main article: 2023 Sudan conflict

In early 2023, as internationally-brokered plans developed for transitioning Sudan to civilian rule, international diplomats insisted that the RSF merge into the Sudanese Army.[20] By April 2023, power struggles developed between Sudan's de facto national leader, army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who headed the heavily-armed RSF.[21][20] Clashes between RSF and army forces erupted across the country.

On April 15, 2023, their rivalry erupted into open combat between the army and the RSF, with battles in the streets of Khartoum. By the second day, 78 people had been reported killed. Among the dead were three World Food Program (WFP) workers, triggering the organization to suspend their work in Sudan, where they had been a principal force attempting to alleviate hunger afflicting much of Sudan. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres demanded immediate "justice" for the killings, and called for an end to the conflict.[21][20]

Diplomats from the African Union and Saudi Arabia hastened to Sudan to try to mediate a cease-fire. A humanitarian cease-fire of three or four hours was declared to permit evacuation of injured, but the battles continued, as both sides claimed to have seized control of key sites in and around the capital city.[21][20]

References
  1. "Sudan's Janjaweed Militia". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  2. Janjawid https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sudan/
  3. "Janjaweed | Sudanese militia | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-09-10.
  4. "UN Warns Chad Violence Could Replicate Rwanda Genocide - Christian News on Christian Today". Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  5. On the Front Line of the Saudi War in Yemen: Child Soldiers From Darfur
  6. [American Society of International Law , http://www.asil.org/insights/insigh142.htm ASIL Insights: UN Resolution 1556]
  7. "Sudan signs peace deal with rebel groups from Darfur". Al Jazeera. 31 August 2020.
  8. "Who are Sudan's RSF and their commander Hemeti?". Al Jazeera English. 6 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  9. "Darfur Genocide « World Without Genocide - Working to create a World Without Genocide". worldwithoutgenocide.org. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  10. McDonell, Nick (2008-11-01). "The Activist". Harper's Magazine. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  11. "Al-Ahram Weekly | Region | Arabs and Africans". 2007-07-17. Archived from the original on July 17, 2007. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  12. G. Prunier, Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide, p. 45
  13. Prunier, pp. 61–65
  14. de Waal, Alex (5 August 2004). "Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap". London Review of Books. 26 (15).
  15. "Terrorism and Violence in the Sudan: The Islamist Manipulation of Darfur". Archived from the original on 2020-08-02. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  16. War and Slavery in Sudan: Ethnography of Political Violence by Jok Madut Jok
  17. "NewsHour Extra: Sudan Genocide Declaration Stirs World - September 15, 2004". PBS. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  18. Kessler, Glenn; Lynch, Colum (September 10, 2004). "U.S. Calls Killings In Sudan Genocide". The Washington Post.
  19. "Sudan president charged with genocide in Darfur - Yahoo! News". Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  20. "Clashes erupt in Sudan between army, paramilitary group over government transition," April 16, 2023, ABC News, retrieved April 16, 2023
  21. Agence France-Presse: "Fighting continues in Sudan despite humanitarian pause," April 16, 2023, France24, retrieved April 16, 2023
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