An Oral and Documentary History of the Darfur Genocide

The genocide in Darfur erupted in 2003 but its seeds had been planted years before. Following years of attacks on their villages, livelihoods and persons, as well as political and economic disenfranchisement by the Government of Sudan, the black Africans of Darfur rebelled. In retaliation, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir had his troops and an Arab militia, the Janjaweed, carry out a scorched earth policy that resulted the in killing of noncombatants, men, women, children, and the elderly. In the process, females of all ages were raped, hundreds of villages were burned to the ground, and over two million people were forced from their villages. By mid-2007, estimates of those who had been killed or had perished due lack of water, starvation, or injuries, ranged from a low of 250,000 to over 400,000.