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Janjaweed
The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United Nations definition, Janjaweed membership consists of Arab nomad tribes from the Sahel, the core of whom are Abbala Arabs, traditionally employed in pastoralism, camel herding, with significant recruitment from the Baggara. Janjaweed nomads were initially at odds with Darfur's sedentary population due to competition over natural grazing grounds and farmland, a conflict exacerbated by dwindling rainfall and drought. The Janjaweed were a major player in the Darfur conflict between 2003 and 2020, in opposition to the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebels. In 2013, the Rapid Support Forces grew out of the Janjaweed. Etymology The origin of the word ''Janjaweed'' is unclear. It may derive from the Arabic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
War In Darfur
The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for Darfur genocide, genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. One side of the conflict is mainly composed of the Sudanese military, police, and the Janjaweed, a Sudanese militia group whose members are mostly recruited among Arabization, Arabized indigenous Africans and a small number of Bedouin of the northern Rizeigat; the ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musa Hilal
Musa Hilal () is a Sudanese Arab tribal chief and militia leader and adviser to the Sudanese Minister of Internal Affairs. His Um Jalul clan exercised tribal leadership of the Arab Mahamid tribe in Darfur. The Mahamid are part of a larger confederation of camel-herding (Abbala) tribes of the Northern Rizeigat. Musa is the leader of the Janjaweed militia, which was responsible for a massive military campaign against civilians in Darfur in 2003, as part of a counterinsurgency effort against Darfur rebel groups. On 21 January 2008, the Federal Government of Sudan announced the nomination of Musa Hilal as the chief advisor of the Ministry of Federal Affairs in Sudan. This position allows Mr. Musa to coordinate with regional leaders surrounding Darfur, as well as with Arab tribal groups, on the relations of the military regime. Musa Hilal: “Minister of Offense,” The New Republic 1 February 2008 This political position further permits the military leader power over decisions ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rapid Support Forces
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; ) is a paramilitary force formerly operated by the government of Sudan. The RSF grew out of, and is primarily composed of, the Janjaweed militias which previously fought on behalf of the Sudanese government. RSF has been administered by the General Intelligence Service (Sudan), National Intelligence and Security Service, while during military operations it has been commanded by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). , the commander is General Hemedti (Muhamed Hamdan Dagalo). During the 2018–19 Sudanese protests, Sudanese political crisis of 2019, the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état, military junta that took control of the country employed the RSF to violently crack down on pro-democracy demonstrators. Along with other security forces, RSF carried out the Khartoum massacre on 3 June 2019. On 15 April 2023, Sudanese civil war (2023–present), fighting broke out between the RSF and the SAF after the RSF mobilized its forces in cities across Sudan, including ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hemedti
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (born 1974 or 1975), commonly known by the mononym Hemedti, is a Sudanese military officer and the current head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A Janjaweed leader from the Rizeigat tribe in Darfur, he was the Deputy head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. Since 2013, Hemedti has commanded the RSF. He was considered by ''The Economist'' to be the most powerful person in Sudan as of early July 2019. On 21 August 2019, the TMC transferred power to the civilian–military Transitional Sovereignty Council, of which Hemedti is a member. Under Article 19 of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, Hemedti and the other Sovereignty Council members were to be ineligible to run in the 2022 Sudanese general election. As of 2019, Hemedti was considered one of the richest people in Sudan via his company, al-Junaid, which had a wide array of business interests including investment, mining, tran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudanese Civil War (2023–present)
A civil war began on 15 April 2023 between two rival factions of the military government of Sudan. The conflict involves the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly known as Hemedti), who also leads the broader Janjaweed coalition. Several smaller armed groups have also taken part. Fighting has been concentrated Battle of Khartoum (2023–2025), in the capital, Khartoum, where the conflict began with large-scale battles, and in the Darfur region. Many civilians in Darfur have been reported dead as part of the Masalit massacres (2023–present), Masalit massacres, which have been described as ethnic cleansing or genocide. Sudan has been described as facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis; nearly 25 million people are experiencing Famine in Sudan (2024–present), extreme hunger. On 7 January 2025, the United States said it had determined that the RSF ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ali Kushayb
Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (), commonly known as Ali Kushayb () (also: ''Koship'', ''Kosheib'', ''Kouchib'', ''Kosheb'', ''Koshib''), is a senior Janjaweed commander who supported the Sudanese government against Darfur rebel groups during the Omar al-Bashir presidency. He was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. He was known as ' ("colonel of colonels") and was active in Wadi Salih, West Darfur. On 27 February 2007, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo charged Kushayb with crimes against civilians in Darfur during 2003 and 2004, accusing him of ordering killings, rapes, and looting. An ICC arrest warrant was issued for him and Ahmed Haroun, his co-defendant, on 27 April 2007. In April 2008, he was released from Sudanese custody.International Criminal Court. ''Public Redacted Version of the Prosecutor's Application under Article 58. (14 July 2008).'' Sudanese authorities re-arrested Kushayb in October 2008.The New York Times''Sudan Arrests Militia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tajammu Al-Arabi
Tajammu al-Arabi (), translated into English as Arab Gathering or Arab Alliance, was a Sudanese Arab tribal militia and political organization that operated in western Sudan and eastern Chad in the late 1980s under Libyan sponsorship. The organization was organized by tribal leaders and Islamic Legion militants in the context of the ethno-tribal conflicts that were taking place in Darfur between the Baggara Arabs and the Furs in those years. Although the organization claimed that its aim was solely to represent and defend the interests of Arab tribes, the organization was described by Gérard Prunier as "a militantly racist and pan-Arabist organization which stressed the 'Arab' character of the province." Scholars agree that Tajammu al-Arabi played an important role in the creation of the Janjaweed, which operate in the region to this day. History Its composition had a background in local tribal militias and in Gaddafi's mercenary forces that operated in the Sahel during t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's List of African countries by area, third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum, secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum. The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan ( 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture ( 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian ( 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture ( 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Militia
A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve as a pool of available manpower for regular forces to draw from. When acting independently, militias are generally unable to hold ground against regular forces. Militias commonly support regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or conducting irregular warfare, instead of undertaking offensive campaigns by themselves. However, militias may also engage in defense activities to protect a community, its territory, property, and laws. For example, naval militias may comprise fishermen and other civilians which are organized and sanctioned by a state to enforce its maritime boundaries. Beginning in the late 20th century, some militias (in particular officially recognized and sanctioned militias of a government) act as profe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muraheleen
The Muraheleen (, can be spelled as Murahilin or Murahleen), also known as al-Maraheel (), were tribal militias primarily composed of Rizeigat and Messiria tribes from western Sudan. They were armed since 1983 by successive Sudanese governments to suppress the insurgency of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the Second Sudanese Civil War. Their activities included raiding Dinka villages, looting cattle, abducting and enslaving women and children, and causing widespread destruction. The Muraheleen were notorious for their brutal tactics, which contributed to famine and displacement among the affected populations. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Muraheleen played a crucial role in the government's counter-insurgency strategy, benefiting from state support in the form of weapons, ammunition, and logistical assistance. Their actions were characterised by severe human rights abuses, including using scorched earth tactics, mass murder and ethnic cleansing. Their role dimi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fur People
The Fur ( Fur: ''fòòrà'', Arabic: فور ''Fūr'') are an ethnic group predominantly inhabiting Darfur, the western part of Sudan, where they are the largest ethnic group.Gettleman, Jeffrey, "Chaos in Darfur on rise as Arabs fight with Arabs", news article, ''The New York Times'', 3 September 2007, pp 1, A7 They speak the Fur language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. Overview The Fur are the largest ethnic group in the Darfur region of western Sudan. They are also sometimes referred to by the names Fora, Fordunga, Furawi, Konjara, or Kungara. They are an active agricultural people and may also herd cattle. Some Fur families who have accumulated a substantial cattle herd developed a more nomadic lifestyle like that of their herding neighbors, the Baqqara (Baggara) Arabs. Culturally, those cattle-herding Fur are now considered to be Baqqara. The Fur are nominally Sunni Muslims following the Maliki school of Islamic law. They are a Western Sudanese people ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masalit People
The Masalit ( Masalit: ''masala/masara''; ) are an ethnic group inhabiting western Sudan and eastern Chad. They speak the Masalit language. Overview The Masalit primarily live in Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, though a few thousand also live in Al Qadarif State in eastern Sudan, and in South Darfur. According to ''Ethnologue'', there were 462,000 total Masalit speakers as of 2011, of whom 350,000 resided in Sudan. Masalit tradition traces their origins to Tunisia. After migrating through Chad, they eventually settled in present-day Sudan. Before 1874, the Masalit were divided between multiple polities in the region such as the Wadai Sultanate and the Sultanate of Darfur. However, after the conquest of the Sultanate of Darfur by the Ottomans and Egyptians in 1874, the Masalit were unified into a Sultanate by Hajjam Hasab Allah. However, Hajjam's rule was seen by the Masalit population as oppressive. Thus, he was ousted in 1883 by Ismail Abdel Nebi, who took control ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
