This book provides the most comprehensive, balanced, and nuanced account yet published of the Darfur conflict's roots and the contemporary realities that shape the experiences of those living in the region.

From Darfur to the Rwandan genocide, journalists, policymakers, and scholars have blamed armed conflicts in Africa on ancient hatreds or competition for resources. Here, Tsega Etefa compares three such cases—the Darfur conflict between Arabs and non-Arabs, the Gumuz and Oromo clashes in Western Oromia, and the Oromo-Pokomo conflict in the Tana Delta—in order to offer a fuller picture of how ethnic violence in Africa begins. Diverse communities in Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya alike have long histories of peacefully sharing resources, intermarrying, and resolving disputes. As he argues, ethnic conflicts are fundamentally political conflicts, driven by non-inclusive political systems, the monopolization of state resources, and the manipulation of ethnicity for political gain, coupled with the lack of democratic mechanisms for redressing grievances.

A critical reader that brings together many of the leading thinkers and activists involved in understanding (and proactively addressing) the situation in Darfur, and the Sudan more generally.

In response to the civil war in Darfur, the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) force was established in May 2004, and by June its first contingents were on the ground. For the first time since the founding of the African Union, a resolution about direct intervention in a conflict that involved wide-ranging abuse of human rights was accepted on a pan-continental level. Here, Irit Back looks at the changes in attitudes towards the ever-problematic tension between the concepts of humanitarian intervention and state sovereignty, using the example of the African Union's intervention in Darfur to illustrate this unique pan-continental approach to conflict resolution and peace-keeping. Additionally, Back analyses the challenges which international task forces, including AMIS and its successor the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), have faced ever since. Including an examination of the situation in the wake of the declaration of independence of South Sudan in 2011, this book offers a unique perspective on the problem of internationally organised intervention in local conflicts.

The Committee has continued to investigate the Darfur situation since its report in March 2005 (HC 67-I, 5th report of session 2004-05, ISBN 0215023420) and the Government's response (Cm. 6576, ISBN 0101657625). The reported decline in attacks is due, the Committee believes, to de facto ethnic cleansing having succeeded. The consequent increase in the number of people dependent upon humanitarian aid is a concern, especially as the ability of aid agencies to deliver assistance has been seriously affected by banditry and violence. The Committee finds that the Sudan government has not done enough to stop the violence, and should have sanctions imposed on it by the United Nations (UN) until it does so. It also questions the effectiveness of the African Union (AU) force trying to prevent the violence. Its funding is insufficient, and its manpower under strength. The UN Millennium Review Summit declared a responsibility to protect the civilians in Darfur, and the Committee feels that that responsibility should be adopted by all UN members, not just neighbouring African ones. It calls on the UK Government to take action to put resources in place, either through the UN or the AU, to ensure effective protection for people in Darfur.

UN Security Council decisions impact billions of people and yet its formal rules are minimal and tell us little about how decisions are made. Instead, informal, and often unwritten practices, form the basis of negotiations. Inside the UN Security Council analyses informal practices within Security Council decision-making, both in general and focused on the case of Darfur in the west of Sudan, to pull back the curtain on decision-making. Security Council negotiations on Darfur are analyzed in depth across issue areas of agenda-setting, sanctions, referral to the International Criminal Court, and peacekeeping. One way of understanding these informal practices is via the lens of legitimation. This is a useful approach because it brings to the fore the ways in which states seek legitimacy for themselves, and for Security Council decisions, as part of the negotiation process. Inside the UN Security Council introduces and develops the concept of legitimation practices to analyse the UN Security Council's decision-making. Legitimation practices shape the process and outcome of negotiations in two different ways. Internal legitimation practices, which relate to the legitimation of Security Council decisions, such as prioritizing unanimity, constrain and enable the text of resolutions. External legitimation practices such as 'doing something', even when it is known that it cannot be implemented, relate to the legitimation of actors in the negotiations and shape whether decisions can be reached at all. Foregrounding legitimation practices sheds light on seemingly contradictory moments within Security Council decision-making, such as the United States enabling the referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court, despite its longstanding objections to the court and the capacity to veto the decision. The book draws on a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including original interviews with key decision-makers, to show that legitimation practices are an integral aspect of Security Council negotiations.

Collected papers from the first Scramble for Africa conference held from 25-27 May 2011.

Contents: (1) Recent Developments: U.S. Policy Toward Sudan; Trilateral Talks and the Abyei Arbitration; The Internat. Criminal Court and Sudan: Background; SPLM Position; U.S. Response; Possible Consequences and New Develop.; Security Conditions in Darfur; North-South Develop.; Peace Talks; Census; Elections; U.N. Peacekeeping; Executive Branch Sanctions; Humanitarian Conditions; (2) China and Sudan; (3) Develop. in S. Sudan; (4) Implementation of the CPA; (5) Darfur Conflict and Impact on Chad and CAR; (6) Crisis in Darfur; Atrocities; Janjaweed; Darfur Peace Agree. and Status of Implement.; U.S. Humanitarian Funding; African Union; Sanctions; Regime Change; Internat. Intervention; Bilateral Targeted Military Measures. Illustrations.