Countries at Low Levels of Development Face Such Huge Challenges That They Cannot Hope to Address Them Without the Assistance of the Rest of the World

Darfur: International Conflict |Location of Darfur: Dafur is a desert region in the far west of northern Sudan. Sudan is the largest country in Africa. It borders the Red Sea and 9 other African nations. | |Brief background: The population is 42. 2 million, capital city is Kartoum, life expectancy of 56 yrs for males and 60 years for females. The GNI per capita is US $1,130. Population of about 6 million | |people. The North/south civil war lasted for 2 decades before the Dafur crisis killed over 2 million people. Decades of fighting have left Sudan's infrastructure devastated.Arabic is the offical | |language of Sudan, and Islam is the religion of the state. Large non- Arabic speaking and non-muslim population which has rejected attempts by the government to impose Islamic Sharia law on the country | |as a whole. | | |Economic |Social |Environmental |Political | |Causes of |The African rebel groups (SLA and JEM) |Refugees from Darfur say air raids by |Dafur- which means land of the Fur, many |Fighting in Dafur started in early 2003.The Sudan | |conflict: |wanted greater representation for their |government aircrafts were followed by attacks |years of tension over land and grazing rights|Liberation Army (SLA) and Justice Equality Movement (| | |communities in the Arab-dominated national|from Janjaweed, who would ride into villages on|between nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the |JEM) began attacking government targets, accusing | | |government and wanted increased funding |horses and camels, slaughtering men, raping |Fur. Khartoum of oppressing black Africans in favour of | | |for Darfur schools, hospitals, public |women and stealing. |long history of cooperation between Darfur |Arabs. | | |services and a share of Sudan's oil | |Arabs and Africans The main conflicts have |Pro-government Arab militias are accused of | | |revenue. | been over access to water and farmland. |campaigning ethnic cleansing against non-Arab groups. | | | | |Droughts in 1984 intensified struggles over |President Bashir took power in June 1989 in a | | | | |resources. military coup against the elected government | | | | | | | |Impact of |Sudan has large areas of cultivable land, |UN estimate more than 2. 7 million people fled |Janjaweed have campaigned to drive African |In March 2009, the International Criminal Court | |conflict: |gold and cotton.Its oil reserves are ripe|their homes ( refugees) and more than 300 000 |farmers off fertile lands in Darfur, have |issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al- | | |for exploitation. The conflict has held |have been killed in the conflict from a |burned African villages and deliberately |Bashir, on the charges of war in Dafur. | | |back economic progress. |combined effect of war, famine and disease. |contaminated water sources. For years after independence, all Dafuris- Arabs and | | | |Some human rights groups have said genocide is | |Africans alike- tended to view the Sudanese | | | |taking place- UN investigations in 2005 | |government in Khartoum as corrupt and biased towards | | | |concluded that war crimes had been committed | |Darfur. | | |but there had been no intent to commit | | | | | |genocide. | | | |International impacts: Strained relations with neighbouring Chad to the west.Both countries accuse |Conflict resolution: President Bashir won re-election in 2000. The opposition boycotted the poll, | |each other of supporting each other's rebel groups. Dafur conflict could lead to a wider, regional war. |accusing him of vote-rigging. | |There are over 200 000 refugees in Chad, many camped along the 600 km stretch of corder and who remain | | |vulnerable to attack. Political: After the UK ( colonial rulers until 1956) introduced democratic councils, there was | |The implications of ongoing violence could further destabilise the region and this could have a knock |competition between Darfur Arabs and Africans for political offices. After independence, this | |on effect on the world's oi l supply for countries such as the US, who are attempting to reduce their |competition increased and Darfur Arabs sought to undo centuries of African dominance in Darfur | |independence on oil from the Middle East. |government. | | | | | | |Other information: | | | | | |Location of Afghanistan: Landlocked mountainous sovereign state forming part of South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the| |north, and China in the far northeast. | |Brief background: | | | | | |Economic |Social |Environmental |Political | |Causes of conflict: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Impact of conflict: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |International impacts: |Conflict resolution: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Other information: | | | | | Afghanistan: International Conflict